Feline, The New Avatar (after The Legend of Korra) Book 1: Fight
by TitaniaSarys
Summary: It's almost been twenty years since Republic City was rebuilt, since the Earth Republic was born and also since Korra disappeared. Nobody knows what happened to her and most people believe the Avatar circle is broken. But what if Feline, Bolin and Opal's daughter was the one? Only problem: nobody knows what she's capable of...
1. I'm Feline, nice to meet you

I'm pretty normal.

Except for my family I guess. Being the only child is not easy, it's even less the case when you're the daughter of two great benders and heroes. Bolin and Opal, an Earth and Lava bender who married an Airbender. Loved each other from the first sight, or so they say. Even after all these years, they still care deeply for each other and live most of the time in Zaofu, but I spend all my summers in Republic City at my uncle's place, Mako. He's pretty much always dark and brooding, but a really nice guy and I'm always eager to spend some time with him and his two sons, Jairo who's eighteen and Sen who's going to be fourteen soon. They're both adorable and we've pretty much grown up together. Sometimes it's a bit weird to consider my cousin as my brothers.

On the other side of the family tree, there are the Beifongs and… it's quite complicated. We haven't heard from my uncle Baatar Jr. since the attack on Republic City that happened something like almost twenty years ago. After his trial, he spent a few years in prison but never showed up when he got out, too ashamed to show his face in Zaofu again, he said. But grandma Sue still gets his letters, so I guess it's fine.

Then there's Huan. After the Earth Empire was dismantled and King Wu decided to install a republic on Earth territory, my second uncle became a very famous artist in Ba Sing Se where he lives happily in the Upper Ring with his, I don't know, third, maybe fourth wife? I don't even remember. And who would have thought he's a ladies' man. Anyway, he's so rich his house alone is like five times ours and the Beifong estate is kind of impressive. I go see him sometimes when grandma goes to the capital to represent Zaofu now that each area of the Earth Republic is independent.

Then come the twins Wei and Wing who became Probenders when the arena reopened. They each have two or three sons but I often mix up their names to annoy them since they all look the same and all want to be probenders. As I'm the only girl in the family, they're all playing tough to impress me. I often tried to play with them but they always beat me with their excellent Earth and Metal bending. I always wanted to fight but nobody except them let me.

My parents were hoping I'd be a great Earthbender or maybe even a Lavabender. That would have been so cool. But I'm not. Not at all. I want to fight so badly it hurts sometimes. They often tell me my energy and good mood reminds them of Korra, the last Avatar who somehow disappeared into the wild like eighteen years ago or so. Nobody knows what happened to her and no one has seen her ever since her trip to the desert. The people from Misty Palms Oasis are the last who ever saw her. This story always made my father sad because I know he was one of the former Avatar's best friends along with Mako and Asami. He always gets this sad look when he compares me to her, like if he does that enough times, she'll mysteriously come back. Some people believe she's dead, others still have faith and hope for her return like Tenzin, a great Airbender master. But I guess most people have accepted her disappearance. After all, there have been periods of time without the Avatar to keep balance in the world.

But I know something no one else does. I've always been afraid to talk about it, even more to show it. And the fact that I might do the things I do would make my father even sadder. Disappointing him is the last thing I want to do right now.

It happened when I was really little, maybe four or five. I was playing in the yard in Zaofu, waiting for my five Earthbender cousins to come back from training since they couldn't compete yet at the time and I did something I would have never thought myself capable of: I airbended. Like real air. From the tip of my fingers. I was so stunned I had to do it again to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I was really doing it, I was just like mom, I was an Airbender! I was so happy that I fell into the pond, like literally bottom first. But instead of wetting my clothes, the water turned to ice, making the landing quite hard. I tried to waterbend and the ice melted right away! I really couldn't believe it. I was so proud of being at the same time an Air and Waterbender that I came straight to see my parents to tell them the good news. I didn't realize at the time that me being capable of bending two of the four basic elements meant that Korra had passed away. I just wanted to make my parents so proud, I still do.

I came into the house and was about to enter the living room where they were drinking tea with grandma Sue, but their conversation froze me on the spot.

"_It's such a shame, mom! I thought that with Bolin's Earth and Lavabending or my Airbending, she might be able to control one of them! Maybe even learn Metalbending from you!_" Said my mother Opal, holding her cup with both hands.

"_You know, sweetie, sometimes even two great benders have none benders kids. Look at Bumi for example, that is before he got his Airbending._ " Said Sue, putting a comforting hand on her daughter's knee.

_"I know, I just wanted this gift to be hers. I've been a none bender too once and I know how it feels when you're different from your whole family."_

_"And she would have been so powerful! Man! I was sure she'd be the greatest Lavabender ever!"_ Cried Bolin from the kitchen next door, helping with the cake he was eager to taste.

_"Honey! Yes, of course we're sad she's not more like us, but seeing her all lively and so full of energy and not being able to use it in bending make me really sad sometimes. Have you seen the way she's looking at the boys when they come back from training every day? Like she's glad they're here to play with her, but like she can't help being a bit jealous that she's can't join them."_ Continued my mother.

My father and grandpa came in and put the cake on the table. Bolin was wearing his sad face, the face that tells he's about to talk about his lost friend.

_"She reminds me so much of Korra. That energy of hers, this pure strength she's got but she can't see yet. Man! I wish she was here!"_ He said.

Of course, as a kid, I only remembered the part about them being disappointed that I wasn't an Earthbender. Even being an Airbender didn't seem to be enough to make them proud and all of a sudden, my joy had vanished. Just like Korra probably did in that desert. Like I wasn't feeling so proud anymore. Like by accepting that I'm the new Avatar it would make Korra's return impossible. So I didn't show them, I just kept that secret since then. I've practiced a lot and became really good at Air and Waterbending but still have some major problems with Firebending. But Earthbending? Nothing. I'm not capable of moving a single stone.

But I'm not entirely like Korra. From what I heard, she had a bright fire burning inside of her that made her fierce, brave and powerful. She was a born fighter and hero, no matter the mistakes she made. Once she had connected to her spiritual side, she was unstoppable. Even after being poisoned, she managed to keep on going. I'm a great fighter or at least I try and want to be. But I didn't have that much training and nobody lets me. I can rarely practice my bending, even less my fighting. A few years ago, my parents had decided I would make a great journalist with my neverfading smile and contagious good mood. With me, it's always about extremes and people can read my emotions just like that because I just can't hide them. Sometimes, I also talk way too much, just like Ikki actually, which reminds me that she's just got a new boyfriend she's can't wait to introduce me to next time I'll come by Air temple island. But I'm more feline than Korra. For me, it's all about strength and superiority during a fight. I will not hesitate to attack, but I won't just rush in. I'm the kind to make strategies but my determination is not the least.

And today is sort of the big day. It's been a long time since we had a family dinner with almost all the Beifongs and Mako's family too. I haven't seen my two Firebender cousins since last summer and it's actually been more than six months. I just can't wait to see them and also my five other cousins who will come from Republic City too even if they spend half of their time in the Earth Republic teaching Earthbending for pros. My eighteenth birthday is also coming, it will actually happen in two months, so I'm really excited about that too.

Another thing also bothers me. There's this strange feeling more pressing every day, like I want to go out and travel the world, like I just can't become a journalist. Every time I think about my career and the boring life I will have I can't help but feel the blood rushing in my veins urging me to go out and fight. I've tried to do it once, to go out and fight. It was when I was visiting my uncle Huan in Ba Sing Se, I almost spent the entire night alone in the Lower Ring to feel this adrenaline. I almost got into a real fight but I realized I wasn't up to it. My uncle promised to not to say a word to my family and it's been our little secret but it only made my determination stronger. I haven't tried that again but once I'm trained, I'll fight. I know I'm capable of it. I want to prove it. But I just don't know how to explain it to my parents. I can't just tell them about my bending. Also no one figured out what happened to Korra and that's a subject I don't want to talk about, I've seen enough sadness in my father's eyes.

Really, what should I do?


	2. Hello there Mister Supercop

This is it. Today's the big day. It's time for the family dinner.

I'm so excited that all my cousins and uncles are going to be here tonight that I can't sit still and constantly have to wriggle, most of the time just trying to make myself useful and produce some interesting rhythms by hitting repeatedly the floor with my feet but my mother only gets angry. She even ended up sending me to the store to buy a couple things for dinner!

I don't blame her. If I had a kid this full of energy, I'd probably go insane.

Mako and his sons will be arriving in the next hour, they'll come by train from Republic City which is way bigger and more beautiful than it was before. Aang's statue is still on Memorial Island and they even put a statue of Korra in the park where she opened the Third Spirit Portal. All that thanks to Varreck's and Asami's genius minds. They have managed to rebuild the city like it was but improve it along the way, aunt Lin always tells me. She's actually coming today too and has offered me a position in the police as a secretary or something. This could be cool, I guess. It's always better than journalist.

I still have to figure out a way to tell my parents I want to go back to Republic City with my uncle Mako but not to be a journalist. Maybe the job proposition from Lin could work as an excuse until I figure out how to be a true bender? But how am I supposed to do so?

I was sitting in the living room with the large doors leading to the gardens wide open, when my pet came. Jen usually sleeps under the big cherry tree in the yard, it's her favorite spot because it shelters her from the sun, rain and even snow. Grandma never allowed her to enter the buildings but she can easily see me in my room which is on the ground floor in the east wing of the mansion. And to tell you the truth, she probably wouldn't fit in the entrance.

I've heard that all the Avatars had some sort of pet or guide animal during their lives, and most of the time some pretty big ones. Aang had Appa a flying bison, Korra had Naga a polar bear dog which are excellent creatures for traveling. But Jen is so much more than just a ride, she's a friend, one I can hardly live without. And yes, she can be intimidating. See, when I got her, she was only a baby, I wasn't very old either but I managed to befriend her right away. From that day, we've always lived together in Zoafu. The only times we were separated were during summer when I was in Republic City with Mako's family.

Jen is really nice if she wants to be. As I share a strong bond with her, she pretty much likes people that I like and vice versa. She never lets someone threaten me. And she's big, like really big. I scared my parents out of their minds when I brought her home for the first time. But they got over it and learned to see her as a way of protecting me. She's really fond of Bolin and fights often with him. Alas, Pabu his fire ferret died a couple years ago but he lived a long and happy life. As for Naga who never left Korra's side, she disappeared along with the former Avatar.

So here it is… Jen is a saber-tooth moose lion. Aunt Lin told me a story that Sokka, Katara's brother, has been threatened by one of these creatures once and Aang saved his neck. Saber-tooth moose lions can be really fierce but only if they feel threatened. So you better not mess with my girl! And here she comes.

I greet her by scratching her behind the ears and she almost knocks me over with her huge antlers.

"_So girl, how about a little stroll to the train station?_" I whisper in her ear.

I was about to hop on her back but grandma came in.

"_Feline dear, before you go to the train station, could you deliver this letter to Miss Sheng please? She owns the tea shop on south street and I promised her my answer today._"

"_No problem._" I reply and put the letter in the small bag I took the habit of attaching to the back of my belt. It always comes in handy.

But I can't ride Jen right away, I have to take her out of the yard otherwise my mom will make my life a living hell when I'll come back and I seriously don't want to spend the next week doing all the chores just because I "rode off like a bandit". So here we go, I take Jen outside the estate. She's used to it and follows me without complaining. We walk by the pond in which I fell when I was little and discovered my waterbending. My reflection stares at me as if asking me if I've found a solution to my problems yet.

I have jet black hair, long but half of the time braided, half of the time in a ponytail just like today. Two small braids, one on each side frame my face and I have a dozen other small braids but they're caught in the ponytail so it's not easy to notice them. They all end with a golden or copper bead. I have my father's green eyes and my mother's graceful lips along with some subtle freckles and a mole in the corner of my left eye. I'm not very tall but not too small either and pretty thin.

The clothes I'm wearing correspond more to my name. Dark brown pants, up-to-knee boots with large but small heels, my leather belt and the bag attached to it and a big leopard printed scarf tied around my waist just under the belt. My top is orange and sleeveless and I wear a small tiger printed scarf on my left upper arm along with leather arm bands on the spaces between my wrists and elbows. The only necklace I have is actually Jen's first tooth on a string, not one of these saber teeth that are impossible to miss, but her other teeth not the least lethal. And that's it, that's the good old me.

Once we're out of the estate, I climb on Jen's back. I've never used a saddle or reins, since I was very little, I always rode bare back. I've learned to squeeze my knees and hold onto the thick hairs on her neck but it hadn't prevented me from falling many times. My mother's always scared that I might break something like I was made of sugar. But aside from a broken arm, nothing really serious never happened to me. And mom learned to trust Jen. And it's not like I was a troublemaker as a kid, I wasn't like my cousins at all. I was the one to distract the adults when they were cleaning up the mess then usually made while fighting.

It doesn't take us long to reach the tea shop on south street and I can feel that Jen wants to run more. She's like a wild spirit when I ride her, always wanting to run faster, to run further and I never managed to push her to her limits. One thing is sure: I can count on her for a quick escape.

"_Wait here girl, I won't be long._"

She leans her head and gently pushes me but with her bestial strength, she knocks me over and I have to grip her antlers to keep my balance. Well, I got to say I'm used to it and it's been a while since she managed to make me fall. People aren't afraid of her anymore, she's never done anything to them and they learned to leave her alone. They know that as long as they don't mess with her, she won't mess with them. It was hard at first, I remember people running away from me whenever I was with her and I guess it's a pretty normal reaction. I mean, you don't see a saber-tooth moose lion in such a big city as Zaofu every day, especially since this creature is supposed to be wild.

"_Miss Sheng?_" I ask after knocking while pushing the door open. It's late in the afternoon and there's no client which is odd. Usually this place is crowded at this time of the day.

I frown and repeat. Okay, I'm starting to get a little worried now since nobody's answering and no one seems to be in there, but the door was open… As silently as possible, I creep inside, walking slowly between the rows of small round tables careful not to knock anything over. It looks like everything is set and ready to be used, like the shop was about to open but something happened just before. That's odd…

"_Miss Sheng? Hello! Is someone there?"_ I try again and yet again nobody answers. I take the letter out of my bag but when I'm just about to put it on the counter, I feel a presence behind me and I turn immediately, holding a knife made of thin air. But no one's there, like literally no one.

"_Feline…_" Says a faint voice. It's like a whisper and for a moment I wonder if I'm not dreaming. I squint my eyes, trying to see if something isn't lurking in the dark and I'm thinking about bending a small flame when I feel something brush my bare elbow. When I turn to face the counter, I can't help but jump in fright when I see Miss Sheng standing there next to me, her small hand gripping my arm, her smile as warm as ever.

"_Feline, it's such a pleasure to see you. What can I do for you today? I'm sorry but the shop is closed for now."_

I sigh in relief when the lights suddenly come back. Why on Earth haven't I turned them on before? It's almost like I'm asking for danger…

"_I'm sorry to bother you. But the door was open so I just came in. I didn't know you were closed…_" I apologize immediately.

"_No harm done, sweetie. Is this letter for me?_"

I look at the letter in my hand and give it to her.

"_Oh yes, that's my grandma's… I mean Suyin Beifong's answer._"

"_Thank you sweetie, I'm glad she was able to reply to my request so quickly. Thank her for me._"

"_We'll do Miss Sheng. Have a nice evening._"

I leave the shop without another word. For a moment I really thought someone was calling me back there near the counter. But this voice, no matter who's it was, seemed so wise and gentle, and I can't shake the feeling that I know this person although I've never heard that voice before. It also seemed so sad…

The whistle announcing that a new train arrived brings me back to reality and I go straight to the train station. If I'm late to great my cousins, they'll definitely have a new way to make fun of me. I get down as soon as I reach the wide open doors of the train station which was rebuilt after the fall of the Earth Empire in order to make it way bigger than it was before since Zaofu became one of the most important cities in the Earth Republic. Jen disappears somewhere and I know she's going to hide until Jairo comes, she's made a habit of scaring him by jumping on him every single time he comes to visit.

I run across the great hall, squeezing past numerous people, most of them coming back from work in the nearby villages and towns, others coming home for the weekend. Those who recognize me great me silently, the others just ignore me or even curse when I run into them and forget to apologize. Finally, I make it to the edge of the hall and stop at the railing, overlooking all the platforms. I find the train my cousins took and I see them climbing up the stairs just underneath me. I can't help but leaning on the railing and smiling slyly.

"_Look who finally made it home!_" I say loudly enough for Jairo to hear me. Uncle Mako is wearing his detective uniform, he got this position when his employer, former Prince Wu, stepped down from the throne a long time ago. Aunt Lin who's Chief of Republic City's Police again is going to retire in a few years and Mako is one of the people she hesitates to choose to replace her. Even though she's getting old, she's just like great grandma Toph who I've only seen on pictures although my parents told me I saw her when I was a year old. These women are indestructible! I hope to actually meet great grandma Toph someday, I've heard she's quite the phenomenon.

"_Well, well, if it isn't our dear cousin! Looks like you nearly made it in time, I knew you'd be late. Again._" Replies Jay, like always. He does that with the most calm voice but the irony in his voice is clearly perceptible.

"_A girl must know how to make herself be desired Jay, don't you know that already?_" I wink.

"_It should be forbidden to use that excuse too often, you should go to prison for that._" He smirks while Sen passes near him and waves at me. I wave my hand too. I really like Sen, but probably because he's younger, I don't know him as well as I know Jay and we're not that close. Jay and I are just like the best friends ever, we've pretty much grown up together even if we only see each other twice or three times a year. I see my other cousins more often, but I'm less close to them, don't know why.

"_And who's going to put me in jail, huh? I remind you that I'm your father's favorite niece!_" They're nearly here now.

"_Because you're the only niece he has! And no, my father's too busy for that, but don't worry Kitty Cat, I'll do it!_" Jairo's in front of me now. He hasn't changed much since last summer, maybe he's a couple inches taller, but otherwise, he's still the proud and arrogant yet funny and cool firebender cousin he used to be. He hugs me and then whispers to my ear "_Don't tell my father I showed you that, I'm not supposed to bring it along._" And he opens his mantel to reveal his police officer's badge, all shiny and brand new.

"_Wow, hello there Mister Supercop!_" I can't help but laugh a little even if my eyes are probably sparkling of excitement. He must have so much interesting stories to tell!

"_I'm in the Law Enforcement now, Baby!"_ He says with his confident and arrogant smile. But he's all serious again when Mako arrives, all dark detective like. His work seems to have taken a great toll on him, I wonder if things have been rough lately. And Jay seems more careful around his father too, like he didn't dare tell his usual jokes anymore. Maybe they had a big argument lately? I promise myself to find out about that later, but for now, it's time to go back home, it's already late.

Then Sen gives me a warm hug, this guy's really adorable. He looks just like his brother, except his a little more round because Jay really looks like Mako when he was our age. The only difference is that Jay doesn't have Mako's weird eyebrows and his hair is more brown than black. He also has his mother's eyes, whoever she is.

Mako's face lights up when he sees me and he even cracks a smile.

"_Feline, it's so good to see you!_"

"_You too, guys! How was your trip?_"

Jairo's face darkens and I realize that I probably shouldn't have mentioned that. Maybe they had an argument on the train? Sen looks away, suddenly interested in a lady walking by with her deer dog, Jay looks at his feet and strengthens his grip on the bag he has on his shoulder. As for Mako, he looks me directly in the eye, not the least disturbed by what I said, like nothing ever happened which only makes me think that they really did have an argument.

"_It was pretty tiring and I have to admit I'm exhausted since we took the train straight after work and school for Sen. Let's just say we're glad to be here._"

We made it out of the train station now and head back to the Beifong's estate. Yep, something definitely happened if Mako completely ignores Jay. Suddenly Jen jumps out from behind a building and literally falls on Jairo. She licks his face so hard it makes him laugh and I happily realize that, even if there's a problem between him and his father, he's still the good old Jay.

"_Come on let's go! Dinner should be ready by now and we shouldn't make the others wait!_"


	3. Mom, dad, I'm an airbender

When we arrived at the estate, everybody else was already there. Jen ran off to her favorite spot in the yard and we came in, our mouths watering at the great smell of the dinner ready and waiting in the living room where all my family was. My grandparents were talking with Lin who arrived this morning, uncles Wei and Wing with their wives were in a corner, talking about how amazing their sons were and probably comparing them as they always do. Mom and dad came to great us and I'm always happy to see some joy on my father's face. The only person who can make Bolin forget completely about Korra's disappearance is Mako and the firebender could also use some cheering up by the looks of it.

And of course, the kids were all put up together. Jairo and Sen sat next to me and they immediately started talking with my five other cousins. Tora and Gano, Wei's sons are showing off their muscles and bragging about how they both had a great season this summer. But Tora is stopping next year and is doing his final season this winter, saying he's got enough of probending and that at twenty years old, he's thinking about doing something else, something more useful to the society like maybe entering the Army in Ba Sing Se for example.

Everybody's settled now and we start to eat the usually fabulous dinner that our family cook makes. I really like his cooking but I'd rather taste something less complicated and more mundane. I'm not complaining but I'd like to taste something new, like for example water tribe food. The adults (I mean, we're basically most adults, me being seventeen and my cousins between fourteen and twenty) talk politics and economy between themselves which is fine because it allows us to talk between ourselves. But I know it's only a matter of time before the conversation turns to each one of us.

Wing's three sons have all chosen different paths: Loshi is working in a construction company as a metal engineer, Yoki is a probender and Riko started a lot of things but never finished any of them, he was selling apples during a year or two, tried probending but wasn't cut for it, then did some arena fighting a few months ago and even tried a career in politics with grandma but it never worked out. Right now, I don't even know what he's doing. But they all love to fight and Tora just promised Jay a bending duel after dinner.

"_Yeah, well, being a cop is not easy, but I know what you mean when you say you want to help the society._" Jay suddenly says. I look at his chest, the badge is hidden in his pocket, he put it there before taking off his mantel, making sure Mako didn't see it. Just before dinner, he told me his father confiscated his badge because he did something stupid, but he really wanted to show it to me, that's why he took it back because he knew where his father had hid it. And of course, I promised I wouldn't say anything about it so I won't. It's better to let them deal with their problems alone.

Mako immediately looks at his eldest son who's eighteen now and I can see he's trying to stay calm.

"_You have no idea what you're talking about! I've never seen a cop who screwed up so much in less than a day!_" He says, raising his tone. Lin lowers her gaze, clearly knowing what's going on which doesn't surprise me since she's the chief.

"_Mako, what are you talking about?_" Asks Bolin.

Jay's story has everyone's attention now and I'm listening closely like everybody else is. I can see Jay getting paler by the second as his worst secret is about to be revealed. I can't help being curious but I also get the feeling that what's about to happen is not going to be pretty.

"_Jairo has successfully entered the police of Republic City but during his first day, he got into a fight with the person he was supposed to arrest and managed to destroy a whole building before letting the suspect get away!_" Mako almost screamed. He's up now and ended his talk by slamming his closed fist on the table, his face as red as Opal's jacket.

I really thought that Jay was going to let it go and not add oil in the fire but I forgot he's just like his father. He gets up too and slams: "_Like it was my fault! The guy was a damn chi-blocker! How was I supposed to arrest him when he paralyzed my bending?_" His face is now as red as Mako's.

"_You should have waited for the backup you called._" Says Lin calmly then takes a sip of water. "_You did more damage than him, that's why you've been suspended._"

"_And you should be grateful! Most people would have been fired, Lin saved your neck!_"

"_I've already thanked you, but I don't need any help! I would have got that sucker if it wasn't for this stupid glove he…_" Replies Jay.

"_Watch you language!_" Screams Mako.

Sue steps in and manages to calm everyone down by changing the subject. So after talking about Jairo and then Sen and the earthboys, we talk about me. And who better than my mother to talk about my future? I start to blush.

"_In a few months, once the year is over, Feline will start a journalist career in Ba Sing Se! I can't wait to read her articles in the local papers! Isn't that going to be awesome honey?_" She asks my father. Bolin who was just enjoying his dinner almost chokes with his water when the attention is on him. I can clearly see him trying to regain his composure as quickly as possible so no one notices. "_Oh yes, terrific!"_

I can tell this future wasn't my father first choice, but it doesn't seem to bother him this much. This idea of me being a journalist was obviously my mother's idea and I'm pretty sure my father has pictured me as a great bender before he realized it wasn't going to happen. I really want to, but I can't show him that I actually could become a bender because I know he's going to be disappointed I'm not an earthbender even more that I'm not a lavabender like him. And don't even get me started on the whole Korra thing.

Now may be my chance to make them change their mind. Maybe if Lin agrees with me, she could persuade them… But with what happened with Jay, I don't know if the whole "working in the police" idea still stands.

"_I know I agreed to become a journalist and that was what I wanted to do once, but what if I sort of… changed my mind?_" My voice almost dies at the end of my sentence and I can feel the weight of all the stares on my face.

My mother seems as surprised as my father. Only Jay smiles a little bit, like he figured out by himself I changed my plan. "_Are you serious, sweetie?_" Asks Opal.

"_Yes mom. I really thought about it and I want to go to Republic City, I really want to, but not to be a journalist._"

"_What would you do then?_" Grandma asks gently, a smile starting to form on her face as if by looking at me right now she was remembering something from her past. A similar situation maybe?

"_Well…_" I can't just tell them that I want to master all four elements, that I want to learn how to fight, that's there's a lot of things with my condition of avatar that I haven't figured out yet, that being a police officer is really appealing and would be so cool, that I have to discover what happened to Korra… I actually don't know where to start. And before I know it, I'm standing in front of everyone but not saying a single word, just staring into empty space. It's Jay's pull on the corner of my top that brings me back to reality and I stare intently into his brown eyes, silently asking what's going on.

"_Sooo, Feline, you sort of were away for a few seconds I guess… what were you saying?_" He says, trying to understand my silence.

"_I…I thought that maybe aunt Lin's proposition still stands? And wasn't I supposed to go to Republic City?_"

Everyone looks at Lin and she throws me a deadly stare. I remember her saying something about this possibility being a secret between us… oops… But unlike my father, she stays calm and replies ever so calmly: "_It's true that I offered Feline a position in the police force but it was a long time ago and a lot of things have changed since then especially in Republic City… I don't think it's safe for you anymore to…_"

"_You're telling me you're backing off because of what happened with Jay?" _I can't keep my mouth shut, I just have to stand up for myself, it might be my only chance. "_That's completely unfair!_"

"_This has nothing to do with Jairo! The situation in Republic City has been quite… unbalanced lately._" Replies Lin now standing. Her gaze is fixed on me and mine on her.

"_That's exactly what Korra was told before she came! And she managed to save the situation when she was in Republic City anyway!_" I realize only too late that I mentioned the former avatar and my father's face along with Mako's are immediately veiled by sadness. Damn! I forgot! If Lin's stare could kill me, I'd be dead by now.

"_What happened with the last avatar has nothing to do with you and you're nothing close to the avatar!_" Everyone stopped eating when Jay was mentioned but now, it's like they're all watching a duel between two benders in an arena and are waiting for the other contestant to attack.

"_Yeah, I'm no bender, I figured!_" I spit while sitting down and crossing my arms on my chest, having completely lost my appetite.

I can see on Lin's face that she didn't want to make it sound like that, but I can't let it go: the idea of me being the avatar is so absurd to them because they think I can't bend that I can't help being mad and especially showing it to everyone with my behavior. Mom looks pained too like she didn't want the conversation to turn out like that but was afraid it might. "_I'm sorry it sounded like that, sweetie, but we're only thinking about your safety, that's all. Republic City is not a safe place right now."_

"_And it probably never will if things stay the way they are! Aang and Korra changed so much things in the city, in the world! I want to do something great too and I know I can! You can't protect me forever! And it's not like I'm going there alone! Aunt Lin, uncle Mako, even my cousins would be there! I really want to, but I also need to go there! And I thought we agreed I'd go!_"

"_How can you need to go to Republic City?_" Asks my dad. I can see he's curious now. He probably won't be as difficult to persuade as mom. But I can't just tell him my secret, I've got to make something up and fast.

"_Because I…_"

Gano and Riko were playing this whole time, bending the ground under the table's legs, making it jump every time someone told something important. They say it adds a dramatic effect to the whole situation and it always makes them laugh until they can't breathe. It's Riko's turn now and he bends the ground, making our table jump but he didn't control his strength and my glass of water flew straight at me. I did it without thinking: I created a small puff of air which pushed the glass out of my way and made it land on Wei's wife, Sona… Sana… well something. I see my father's jaw hanging open and my mother trying to decide if she's dreaming or not. Well, there's no choice left now. I take another deep breath and say:

"_Mom, dad, I'm an airbender._"


	4. Knocked out during my first fight

"_Mom, dad, I'm an airbender._"

I never thought a silence could be so disturbing and infuriating. Everyone's just staring at me. Some people don't seem to grasp the idea at all, others are mouthing things like "_no way!_" and others just don't know what to do. My mother stands up and comes around the table. Once she's in front of me, she puts her hands on my shoulder. I seriously have no idea what she's going to do and I can't read the expression painted on her face. Is it joy? Pride? Anger? Fear?

And then, just like that she hugs me and I can't help but hug her back. It's been so long since I did that I can't even remember and for the first time in the last couple of years, my relationship with my mother just feels right. Then she steps back and looks me straight in the eye.

"_How long have you known you can airbend?_" She asks, all serious again. Everyone's suspended to our lips and eagerly await my answer. "_Almost forever._"

"_Why didn't you tell us, sweetie?_" I can see in her eyes that she's proud but at the same time sad that she only gets to discover it after so many years. "_Yes Feline, why?_" My father asks. I turn to face him, my mother's hands still on my shoulders. Bolin couldn't get more miserable. He looks like he just learned the death of a family member. I bite my lips before facing my mother again. Somehow, I feel more comfortable looking at her right now.

"_I…_" I can't seem to be able to find the right words. I want to explain everything to them, how it all started, how I knew they wanted me to be a great earthbender, how I'm also a waterbender, how there's a million things I'm going to need to do since I'm the avatar, starting with putting some light on the whole Korra case but I just can't reveal everything to them. Not now. Not yet. I know they'll eventually learn the truth, but I can't stand to disappoint them even more today. My father's expression is enough for now.

"_I wanted to tell you, but you wanted me to be a great earthbender and it just didn't seem like the right thing to do. I… I don't know, I didn't feel confident telling you the truth._" I can't think of anything more developed to say so I just shut up and wait for a reaction. Everyone starts talking at the same time and small groups are formed. My grandparents and Mako come to congratulate me, but I still can see my father's disappointed face in the corner of my vision and before I know it, he leaves the room. I hope he's going to accept it and I think only time can help him with that. Then it's my cousins' turn.

Gano puts his arm around my shoulders like he always does when he's showing off. "_So, Feline, looks like a bending duel is in order!_ _Ready to get your butt kicked for the first time?_" I laugh a little and reply. "_Are you ready to eat dirt? 'Cause I'm going to make you eat a lot of it!_" He walks slightly away and acts like he's scared. "_Looks like the tiger's ready to bite! Come on! We'll create the teams in the yard!_"

He's so eager to test my bending it's almost funny and I completely forgot the glass of water incident. As we're eight, we decide to make two teams of four. In my team, I've got Jay and Sen, but also Riko, who's the only earthboy who can't metalbend. In the opposite team, there's Tora who's the oldest, Gano who's one of the best earthbenders I know, Loshi who's the most amazing metalbender ever and Yoki who's also a probender like Gano.

We take our positions in the yard, leaving a large gap between us to be able to bend without causing too much trouble even if I know that there's going to be plenty of damage. My five cousins alone could destroy the whole estate by themselves, but three extra benders? We might as well start planning the estate's reconstruction. I'm so excited, but I have to be careful and only airbend. I could easily waterbend without even thinking about it, but I just can't, there's no way I'm revealing I'm the avatar today!

I've never been in a real fight before, so I don't exactly know what to do, but my guess is that I have to defend myself because they're going to attack first. They may go easy on me because I'm new at this, but there still will be rocks flying in my face. Each team is forming a line and we keep our distance in order to be able to move freely. I'm between Riko and Jay, Sen is on the edge. He's smaller and younger than us but I'm sure he's way better than me at this since he's been often fighting playfully with Jay. So I just try to adopt a defense position, my hands raised and ready to blow some air although I don't think that a puff of air is going to win again a rock.

I look quickly at Jay to observe his position which is pretty close to mine but much more relaxed and open like he's only waiting the beginning of the fight to move. He sees me and smiles a little bit when I correct my position to look more like his. I don't know if it's some firebending style, but I guess it's always better than what I have even if it's not going to work with my airbending. My left foot is naturally stamping the ground and I bite my lips and squeeze my eyes to analyze the other team's strategy. All the adults are now sitting on the terrace or standing in the doorway leading to the living room. I guess they're ready to get out of the way if things go out of control which they probably will.

"_Relax spontaneous one! Just try to stay alive and don't get in front of me or you'll get hit. But otherwise, you should be fine._" Says Jay without looking at me and I can't help but smile in return.

That's when the fight starts. Gano is the first one to attack and he bends the earth in front of Riko in a straight line, pieces of soil protruding from the ground. At the same time, Jay shots a bright flame at Tora who simply ducks while Riko jumps to the side and hides in the thick bushes that grow near the grey wall surrounding the yard. Sen starts to do the same as his brother but Loshi gets him before he can do anything and grabs his ankle with his metal cable, making him fall hard on the ground. Yoki is the one who attacks me. He raises a few rocks the size of chairs and throws them at me, one at a time. I manage to dodge the first three but the fourth is about to hit me when Riko bends a wall in front of me and I thank him quickly. Now that Yoki is out of ammunition I take my chance and shoot a wide stream of air towards him but the distance is too great to do any real damage and he grins before creating new rocks.

Jay helps Sen to get rid of the cable and attacks Gano who starts to run in our direction. At the last moment, Gano makes Jay jump but raising the ground underneath him and Tora hits him with a stone but I manage to soften his landing with my airbending. But by doing so, I turned my back on my opponents and Yoki threw a rock at me which hit my back making me fall on my stomach. I wince but get up only to see Jen jumping on Yoki and roaring at him, her teeth close to his face.

"_Jen, stop!_" She looks at me, her ears turning like she's happy to hear my voice. "_Get away, girl, or you'll get hurt! I'm fine!_" She roars one last time and then runs out of the yard, probably going to chase some spirits near the outside walls. She does that sometimes when she gets bored and since spirits come from time to time to the human world, she's having a lot of fun. But it's in Republic City and some wild places that spirits are the most numerous.

Sen attacks Gano and even manages to shield me for a while and Riko gets out of his bush to meet Tora. They start wrestling with rocks and one of them even makes a hole in the wall which makes grandma yell. I start running in Loshi's direction, using air to make me quickly jump on the sides when he throws pieces of earth at me and I manage to avoid all of them while getting close enough to do what I planned. I suddenly jump and propel myself with air, flying above him and use both my fists to punch him with a great gust of wind that knocks him down. I land and throw some blows with my feet, moving like never before, feeling this adrenaline pulsing in my veins and an indescribable joy overwhelming me. But Loshi bends the metal griddle I'm standing on which makes me eat the dirt again and I fall just near the pond. When I feel the water on my fingers, I'm thinking about waterbending but I just can't. I promised myself I wouldn't.

Loshi stops metalbending for a while and he uses the wall of one of the building to make it fall on me but I get up quickly and get way from it, joining the middle of the yard. I can tell by grandma's face that she's not pleased at all that Loshi just destroyed a small part of the kitchen.

Jay suddenly comes back into the fight, throwing blows of fire at Loshi until Tora bursts in and Jay and I are standing back to back. Tora is now also using metalbending and he's throwing pieces of metal at us but I manage to create some sort of air barrier around us, like a small cyclone, but it only pushes the smallest rocks away and Jay has to deal with the biggest. "_So, looks like we're stuck here. You have a plan?"_ I ask my cousin. He grins and pushes a rock aside then takes a good look around: Sen is having trouble with Gano and is doing his best to run around the yard, hiding behind trees and metal walls while Gano seems to have the greatest fun in the world. Now that Jen's gone, Yoki's back and he easily deals with Riko who looks exhausted and hides once again in the bushes.

"_We're going to surprise them. On my cue you stop shielding us, then we dodge their attacks and both attack Tora, then Loshi._" Jay says. Then he throws a flame under my barrier but it only makes Loshi jump back. "_NOW!_" I stop airbending and immediately rocks come flying at us but Jay grabs me and we fall flat on the ground. Tora manages to protect himself from Jay's fire by raising his arms, but I make him fall by blowing air on his legs.

Loshi reacts faster than we thought and ties me with his cable just when Yoki gave up on playing hide and seek in the bushes with his brother. He attacks Jay who can't help me and Loshi is pulling me closer by the second. I try to get out of this mess and struggle but his bending is excellent. Come on! This fight isn't over yet! I have to do something! I try to focus all my energy on this cable and after a few seconds, I release every blow of air I can and in every direction which luckily frees me. And before Loshi gets over his surprise, I jump at him and hit him with my closer fist square in the chest.

I look at my mother who's standing next to grandma's chair, Lin is also looking and even if her arms are crossed, I can tell she's impressed. Mako seems enjoying the fight and I'm sure it reminds him of the days he was a part of Team Avatar. It must have been so cool! Loshi tries to get up and I put my foot on his chest. "_You aren't going anywhere, cousin!_"

Jay, who was brawling with Yoki suddenly yells my name. I can't help but turn to see what's going on, the alarming ton of his voice catching my attention. He's trying to burn Yoki who's close to me now and all I can see is the rock flying at me. Way too fast. I realize too late that I won't be able to dodge it.

The rock hits me hard in the face and I fall back while my vision turns pitch black and I can't feel anything anymore.


	5. Hell yeah I'm going to Republic City

Before I even open my eyes, I hear the birds' chirming and I drown into their melody for a little while, just enjoying the sound. For a few minutes it seems like nothing else matters, only the peace I'm feeling right now, the serenity that surrounds me and makes me smile. That's when the pain comes and I immediately open my eyes, breathing loudly and sit down. I frantically look around me in order to know where I am because when I try to remember what happened, nothing comes to mind. I start to panic when a sudden gush of wind brushes my face and sends my loose hair flying to the left side of my face as Jen licks the other one.

I burst out laughing and stroke the fur on the top of her head before scratching her ears. "_Yes girl, I missed you too._" She completely washes my face with her tongue and I have to wipe the drool before it gets too disgusting. I'm in my bedroom, the door's closed and nothing seems to have changed. Jen's in the yard and the open window allows her to see me. From the sky's color outside, I can tell I've slept the whole night because it was almost dark when we dueled. Gosh! Every muscle in my body hurts when I move even so slightly. I hope it's not going to be like that with every fight because otherwise it sucks.

When I touch my brow there's a huge bandage that covers my head. "_I really did smack that rock, didn't I?_" I ask Jen. She only purrs when I stroke her head. Alright, stiffness or not, I'm getting up. After all, I have to persuade my parents and Lin to let me go to Republic City. I don't think that anything changed since they discovered I'm an airbender, but I still have to try.

Somebody must have changed me because I'm not wearing my usual clothes. I'm not a good representation of the Earth Republic citizen since I'm usually wearing orange and brown. I don't know why, it's just always been like that, I was never attracted to wear the green and grey clothes that everyone wears in Zoafu. And I like close-to-skin clothes rather than the wide robes and pants my mother tried to force me to wear so many times. Luckily she's given up. I'm pretty sure she's the one who dressed me because I would have never chosen the green clothes that look like pajamas that I'm wearing. But she doesn't seem to have left my everyday clothes in my room. She's smart I have to give her that. Knowing her, she probably washed them.

Might as well discover what happened after I blacked out. It may also be a good idea to start working on my plea to go to Republic city because convincing them is not going to be easy. I slowly make my way out of my room and down the corridor, wincing at every movement. I walk in front of the earthboys' rooms, the guest rooms are on the other side of the estate in a different building.

Since Zoafu is composed of six districts, the only people who live in the Beifong district are my family members and some guards. Most citizens live in the other five and the central one is the city center. People can quickly travel from one to the other by tramway, my father actually managed to make them even faster in the last decade. But you can also travel on land, I do that sometimes with Jen because people don't really like it when I bring her along in the tramway, she sort of takes a lot of place and can easily knock something or someone over.

Suddenly Gano's door opens and he bursts out of the room holding a metal disc. He's going to use it to play Power Disc, or something like that, a game that my uncles Wei and Wing invented but I was never good at remembering all the rules and also couldn't play since this game is all about metalbending. "_Don't worry Tora, I'm gonna kick your ass again today!_" He screams before crashing into me, making me fall hard and wince again.

"_Oh, sorry Feline. I didn't see you there. Wait a second, aren't you supposed to be in bed?"_ I rub my elbow then the small of my back. "_I can't just lie in my bed the whole day long now can I? And since I'm awake, might as well get up!_" He gives me his hand and helps me up, his smile as wide as the half-moon. "_That's the spirit! Come on, I'll give you a ride!"_ He replies, kneeling in front of me. I get onto his back, holding the metal disc so he can secure my legs. He then starts running and yelling like a madman, making me laugh in the process. There's nothing better than my cousin Gano to cheer me up. He even managed to make me forget my aching body.

Nobody expected us to burst into the living room acting like five-year-old kids. Gano suddenly stops when he enters the room and stands there, just like that, while everyone's looking at him. Grandma almost spills her tea and everyone's jaw drops. It's only after several seconds of pure shock that they seem to get over their surprise. "_Are you feeling better, Feline?_" Asks my mother when Gano puts me down near the table. There are only small blueberry cupcakes and a teapot on it. From the smell I can tell it's mint tea, my favorite.

Grandma immediately calls the cook and orders something for me to eat even if I'm not very hungry right now. Mako's family and Bolin are missing, along with Wei and Wing and their wives. The latter have gone home and I can't say I'm sad, I never liked these women anyway. Gano just went in the yard to meet the other earthboys and probably play Power Disc or something that involves a lot of metalbending and damage. I can see through the open doors leading on the terrace that the wall has been repaired.

"_So, have long have I been out? And what happened after I blacked out? Did we win?"_ I ask slowly. Gosh! My head still hurts. Grandpa looks at me as if I went nuts after the blow to my head. "_Nobody won. The game was stopped after you were hit and we were worried when we tried to wake you up but you wouldn't open your eyes."_

Then mom looks at me and says "_You were knocked out cold for more than twenty hours, Feline."_ I can tell she doesn't approve of what happened, of course she was worried, I'm her only daughter and she's always been the overprotective kind, but I can also see she's proud. I hope that with them discovering I'm an airbender, I didn't start a competition between her and dad. Oh man! I sigh.

The cook brings me a very healthy, too healthy maybe, meal and I try to eat as much as I can while Sen, who just came in, explains what happened, giving me a really detailed summary of the fight. Everyone pretty much stopped fighting was I was knocked out and it's a shame, I would have loved Jay to kick Tora's butt. I guess it'll have to be another time. Once I'm finished, I take off my bandage and look at my mother.

"_Sooo… have you… decided what'll happen to me now? I mean, I know it's not fair that I hid my bending during all these years, but you can't expect me to sit here in Zoafu and do nothing with my airbending._" Then I look at my mother who bits her lips and then grandma who only smiles gently like she uses to do when she knows something important that I don't and she can't wait to tell me.

"_Actually…_" My mother starts. She sits in front of me and puts her hand on mine on the table. "_We've already decided. Bolin and I are ready to let you go to Republic City._" When she sees me smile she immediately adds. "_But you're going to live with Mako and the boys and you're under his supervision and Lin's. And I don't want you to have anything to do with the police's business!_"

I jump of joy and hug her. "_Thanks so much!_"

She looks at me and strokes my hair. "_Remember that you're going there to train on Air Temple Island, nothing else! No probending! No Triad involvement! No riots! Nothing else just airtraining!_"

"_You got it mom!_"

It took me the entire evening to get ready. I didn't take much, just the necessary like clothes, a few books and on old photo of mom, dad and me when I was little. I found my usual clothes and everyone was ready to leave the next morning.

Everybody was there to say goodbye, my grandparents, my five earthbender cousins and my mother. We all went to the train station and I secured Jen in the animal compartment since I'm taking her to the city with me. I can't just leave her in Zaofu. Then I said goodbye to everyone. There was a lot of crying and sobbing, a couple tissues were involved but my family finally let me go. I'm just sad that dad refused to come say goodbye. The last time I say him was this morning. Since he didn't want to come to the train station, I figured I'd be the grown up and come to him. But even after I had repeatedly knocked on the door of my parents' bedroom where he was, he didn't show up. He didn't even say a single word. Nothing. Like I never existed.

I can't shake this growing feeling that my father won't forgive me. But for what? Having hidden my abilities? Having changed my career plan? Being an airbender or simply not being an earthbender? Uncle Mako comes next to me and puts his hand on my shoulder which brings me back to reality.

"_Come on, let's sit down, we've left Zoafu ten minutes ago, you're only going to see mountains, deserts and fields from now on."_ It's true, I've been looking out of the window and got lost in thoughts. "_And don't worry about Bolin. He'll get over it, whatever it is. He always does._" I can't help but smile and I guess my uncle's right. After all, he knows his brother better than anyone.

As I'm about to go sit with my cousins, I hear the same voice as in Miss Sheng's tea shop. And again, it says my name. I look back, but no one's there like I just imagined it. This time, the voice is stronger and much sadder and it's definitely female. But who's can it be? Mako doesn't let me find out and call me to join them which I do. But I can't help think that this voice wants to be heard and won't stop calling me until it does.


	6. Water guy saves my life Twice

I sit next to Jay who's playing cards with his brother, a new game invented in Republic City a few years ago. I try to understand how to play, but it's way too fast and complicated for me. So, I'm just watching and counting the points. When Jay cheated during one game, I blew his game, showing his cards and Sen won. Aunt Lin went back to Republic City the day before, saying she had to take care of some things so she's not with us. As chief of police, she probably has a lot on her plate every day. At some point, Mako had to interfere between two people who were about to start fighting in our compartment and when Sen wasn't looking either, Jay caught my wrist and brought me close.

"_I need you to do me a favor. My father's been suspicious the night after dinner. I think he's suspecting I took my badge. Could you carry it for me until we arrive at our place?_"

His voice is so quiet I almost can't hear him.

"_Sure thing._" I put it in my small bag. Jay is right: Mako won't search me, but he might search him.

We sit quietly for another hour and everyone's always calm around us now that they know Mako's a detective. But suddenly there's a jolt like the train hit something. Everyone looks around, intrigued and then it happens again. Mako suddenly jumps and starts to walk towards the front of the train, probably to yell at the conductor.

"_Everyone please stay calm! I'm going to see what's going on. Please don't leave your seats!_"

But another jolt sends him flying through the compartment and he hits the left wall but I can't help him. The compartment is too rocky and Jay put his arms around me the second things started not to be normal. Mako holds his head while getting up, he's pretty banged up but other than that he seems fine. That's when he looks through the window and after a few seconds of shock comes back to us. I can see behind his back bandits riding motor bikes and coming right at us while sending boulder after boulder on the train. People start screaming and Mako can't do a thing because nobody listens to him.

"_You kids stay here! No exceptions!"_ He says.

"_But we're under attack!_" Cries Sen.

"_Don't worry, I'll deal with it! You three stay here!"_

"_Let me come with you!_ _I can help, dad!"_ Jay replies while getting up.

"_No, son. I need you to stay here and protect your cousin and brother. It's an order!_" Says Mako. His hand rests on Jay's shoulder.

Jay doesn't have time to reply because Mako's already gone. I stand in front of him, holding onto him to keep my balance with the train still rocking.

"_Don't worry, Jay. If someone can handle it, it's him._"

He doesn't say anything, just stares at the door through which his father just disappeared. Another jolt almost sends me flying like the other people who are running everywhere, either trying to save themselves, either trying to reach their suitcases. Like it would help them! Suddenly I hear a wild roar.

"_JEN!_"

I start making my way between the different passengers, but Jay grabs me.

"_Feline, don't! Dad said…_"

"_I know what Mako said!_" I brutally free myself from his grip and face him. I also know it's not fair that I disobey and Jay can't, but I have to go. I reply more gently. "_I know. But I have to get to her. She won't be able to keep it calm, you know that!_"

And without letting him answer, I keep on going, soon leaving the compartment. People are running everywhere in the next coach and I keep walking towards the back, where the animal compartment is. At every step Jen's roars are getting louder and louder and I almost fall when the train jolts. A big man knocks me over when he runs at me, holding onto his bag for dear life while cash is flying out of it. In other circumstances, people would fight like savages around him. Now, everyone's trying to save their own neck.

There are only two compartments left between me and Jen. But the moment I enter the first one, three bandits turn their heads in my direction. They've already climbed through the broken window and there's glass everywhere on the floor. They all have black hair, really dirty and dusty clothes and scarves around their faces, hiding their mouths, noses and chins. The first one keeps on harassing a lady, trying to snatch her bag. The other two slowly start walking towards me.

"_Come on, missy. Just give us the bag behind your back and nobody will get hurt!"_

Thieves, I knew it!

"_No way in hell!_"

I square off, the way I saw Jay do during our fight in the yard two days ago and they jump at me. The first one tries to catch me, but I knock him down with a blow of air. The next one looks at me as if I had two heads. I can clearly see his surprise. He wasn't expecting to fight an airbender. He unsheathes a huge knife and strikes the air in front of me as I jump back every time. The train jolts again and he loses his balance for a split second, which allows me to airkick him in the side, making him fly through the car and hit the wall hard.

The remaining thief throws the lady to the side and brings out a black glove that he puts on. But unlike the gloves Mr. Sato created during the Equalists conflict some twenty four years ago, there's no electricity coming out of it. I don't know what it does but I guess it's nothing good. Even with his scarf hiding half his face, I can see him smirking. I propel myself behind him with a gust of wind and punch him in the back, but he quickly recovers and simply touches my arm with the glove.

Nothing happens at first and I almost think it's a joke. But after a short time, I feel an unpleasant feeling in my arm muscles, like they're being drained of energy. I move back and he doesn't do anything like he wants me to find out what he did to me before finishing me off. I try moving my arm and there's no problem at all, I can't see any mark or cut. Then I try to airbend with my closed fist but nothing comes. No way! Isn't that one of the chi-blockers Jay mentioned during dinner? If it is, I'm in a deep mess…

Every single time I attack, I try to airbend and even water or firebend but nothing comes. It's like I'm a child again but this time I'm not even forced to hide my bending, I just can't use it. Whatever he did to me, I hope it's nothing permanent because if it is, I'll definitely be the worst avatar in history. He smirks and tries to punch me, more playing than actually fighting. I'm not very good at fighting with my bending but fighting with my limbs alone is even worse. I should have stayed with Jay and Sen like Mako told us to, but I couldn't leave Jen in a panic like she is in right now.

The only thing I can do is block his attacks since I'm not good at all in close range combat and keep on stepping back, trying to reach the next compartment, the only obstacle between my saber-tooth moose lion and me. The bandit doesn't seem to notice the roars that come from the animal compartment or maybe he doesn't care or isn't afraid of what may be lurking inside.

Then we go through the double doors and he manages to punch me in the stomach, then in the face, sending me backwards, literally smashing through the next door, pushing it open. I land in the luggage compartment, where all the heavy bags and suitcases are stocked. A few are on the floor but most of them are still in their rightful places, tightly attached. That's when I notice something I haven't before: there's an emblem carved on the bandit's shirt, a small black snake and it looks like it's going to jump out at my throat at any minute. I try to take a step back but I fall on a bag and the only thing I can do is watch his fist coming at me.

I can't help but think that this is it but suddenly a string of water appears out of nowhere and freezes on his hand, making it impossible for him to move. The bandit looks in the direction of the string and so do I but what we see is nothing we were expecting. On top of all the luggage still attached, there's enough space for a grown-up man to lie down and a boy is lying there, his gourd open, the string of water coming out of it. I don't have much time to think because the next second he jumps out of his hiding place (wait was he travelling without paying?) and lands on the bandit, kicking him in the chest, knocking him out cold.

I realize he's not that young, he might actually be my age but it's hard to tell. He's tall, well built and muscular, has black hair, tanned skin, icy blue eyes, a small and well cut beard and the typical north water tribe clothes. Yep, definitely a water tribe dude. He gets the most of water back into his gourd and looks at me, probably about to ask me my name or what the hell I was doing wrestling with this guy, or maybe even try joking around about me being a damsel in distress like Jay would have done. But four new bandits enter the compartment, some of them wearing the creepy black gloves. Water guy must have felt the threat too because he grabs my wrist and starts running to the back of the train.

"_Run!_" He screams. His voice is deep but also really fluid like a calm river.

And so we run and jump over every suitcase that appears in our way. The bandits are right behind us, but we managed to get into the animal compartment before they caught up with us. I immediately pat Jen to calm her down, she's in a stall and can't get free because of the straps that are miraculously holding for now. She's really happy to see me but immediately shows her teeth when she sees water guy. She's about to impale him on her antlers when I stop her.

"_Wow! Easy girl! It's okay, he's with me!_"

She doesn't seem convinced and stays suspicious but before she can smell him to decide if he's really a threat or not, the bandits come in and the first one lands on water guy, pinning him to the ground. Without hesitation, Jen knocks the second guy over, flipping him in midair with her antlers. I jump on the first guy, trying to force him to let go by punching him in the shoulder, but the third guy comes at the same moment and catches both my arms, locking them together behind my back while making sure Jen can't reach him with her antlers. She tries to but can't, she's just too far away and makes a fuss about it. This makes the bandit holding me really uneasy, he tries to get away from her as far as possible but he can't move too much. In that specific moment, I would have wished for the train to jolt once again.

The fourth guy is the biggest man I've ever seen and my cousins are pretty amazing subjects in that area. His shirt is torn apart and I can see more skin than cloth. An evil grin is drawn on his scarf, making him look like some macabre clown. He has a tattoo on his back but I can't see it, only the edges are visible on his shoulders. He wears metal armbands and his boots are metallic too. He looks like the leader although he doesn't have the black serpent on his chest.

The guy on top of water guy touches his head with the glove and I see water guy wince before stopping thrashing around like he was from the moment he got caught. Creepy clown steps closer and takes my bag and weights it in his bare hands the size of frying pans. I don't have much in it, but I do have a dozen yens, my family's picture and Jay's badge. There's no way he's taking it!

Jen attacks at the same time as I do and breaks her bonds while I step on the foot of the guy holding me, then elbows him in the face, knocking him out. Jen hits metal tattooed guy but he grabs her antlers and manages to wrestle with her. He must be really strong to be able to do that but steps aside at the last moment and Jen's antlers slam into the metal wall. The bandit then metalbends the wall to hit her, creating a wide gap in the wall and air suddenly bursts in. Jen collapses to the side, some blood slowly oozing from a small cut near her left ear and I call her but she's unconscious. I look creepy clown straight in the eye.

"_Nobody hurts my girl and gets away with it!"_

I try to punch him but he easily dodges my attack and laughs in my face. I keep on trying and manage to push him towards the hole in the wall. He loses his balance and in order to stay in the train, he grabs the edges of the metal wall with his hands, letting go of my bag. The train keeps on going and is now crossing a bridge. I can see a river running something like a hundred feet underneath us and my bag falls in it.

"_No!_"

I try to catch it but I'm way too late. Creepy clown laughs again and grabs me by the neck then raises me from the ground. I punch his strong hand but it's like punching a wall: it doesn't budge. I can't breathe. He steps near the hole and puts me outside. The wind's so powerful it makes me cry and shiver from the cold. Things would be different if only I still had my airbending!

"_Go get your bag, little girl, since you want it so much!_"

After saying this, he opens his hand and I feel myself falling. But instead of just plummeting into the river, someone grabs my wrist and the pull almost dislocates my shoulder. I raise my head and see it's water guy.

I can clearly see it's difficult for him to hold me and he's not even on the train anymore, he's only holding onto it with his free hand. His fingers are slowly slipping and it's a matter of seconds before we both fall to our deaths.

"_Let me go, or you'll fall too!_"

"_I won't let go._" He says through gritted teeth. It's foolishness! Why would he risk his life again for a stranger? I really don't get it. Creepy clown smiles and looks down at us, crouching next to the hole.

"_Isn't this cute? Two lovebirds holding onto dear life! Let's see if you can still hold on with a broken hand!_"

The bandit then raises his giant foot, ready to crush water guy's hand. I can see him wince and before the metal boot can smash his hand, he lets go of the ledge and we both fall.


	7. Wait, you're a Beifong?

The fall seems like forever.

We are just falling through thin air with nothing to slow us down or catch us but the river below. My mind doesn't seem to be able to grasp the idea that these seconds might be the last of my entire life. We're falling to our deaths and I didn't even get the chance to say truly goodbye. But I can't just die now! There are so many things I want to see, so many things I have to do. The more I think about it, the more ideas start to unfold before my eyes, all the possible futures I could have, all the different paths I could take. It only makes me want to stay alive longer.

If I was still able to airbend, I would do something. Anything! But we're only falling. I can't even remember how long it's been. The train is long gone now. I wonder if Jay is going to see that I'm not on board anymore, I know he eventually will and my disappearance puts him in a difficult position because technically, he didn't protect me and I lost his badge. I can't imagine the fury Mako's going to be in. And they probably will worry about me. And my mom, my dad, what will they think? They'll regret sending me to Republic City. My family will be torn apart because they will blame each other for my demise. I really can't die right now!

Water guy, who hasn't let go of my wrist, brings me closer and wraps his arms around me, trying to stabilize our position so we may enter the water feet first.

"_Trust me on this, I know what I'm doing._" He says before touching me and I nod to let him know it's okay. To let him know that in this precise moment, I really hope with all my heart he knows what he's doing and that he'll get us out of this mess, in which I technically put us.

His hand reaches the back of my head and he holds me close like a lover. I close my eyes and take a deep breath as we brutally enter the water. It's freezing and the pressure separates us. I see him trying to reach out for me but we're taken to different sides of the river that's flowing fast. I try to waterbend but it seems to be locked too. I can't see where I'm going and I'm almost out of air. I don't even know if I'm up or down. The currents are pushing me from all sides and my head's starting to spin.

That's when I hit something hard which makes me spill all my remaining air. At first, I thought it was an animal but it actually appeared to be an orca spirit than turned to look at me and gently smiled, a wild toothy smile, but somewhat gentle and nice. Well, spirit or not, I'm drowning and I desperately cling at my throat to try to keep the air inside. The spirit seems to notice I'm in trouble because it swims underneath me and shots for the surface which actually was above my head like I thought it was.

I literally scream for air and deeply breathe once we break the water surface. It takes me like a minute to calm down and breathe normally. I'm thrown on the spirit's back like a sack of potatoes but after a while, I regain enough strength to climb onto it's back.

"_Thanks, I owe you._"

The spirit doesn't say anything even if it could talk, it only makes an orca sound. It sounds like an angel singing underwater which is kind of cool and awesome. I try to see where water guy is, he can't waterbend right now so I'm not so sure he made it out alive.

"_Could you help me find my… hum… friend? He's a water tribe dude and we had a pretty rough fall."_

It sings again and starts swimming faster. I have to admit, I was never thinking I'd ride an orca spirit someday. Man! I'm glad Korra left the spirit portals open! I can't help but wonder if I would have had the courage to do the same. Probably not.

Almost as I was starting to lose hope, another orca spirit, a little smaller though, appears near, an unconscious guy laid on it's back. I ask the spirits to drop us off on the bank and thank them when they do. After a few joyful jumps, they disappear in the water. I think we're pretty lucky than good spirits found us, I don't exactly know what could be lurking out there but my guess is nothing nice. I drag water guy's body slightly away from the river's banks and start to give him CPR but he quickly wakes up and coughs water, almost in my face.

"_Am I dead?_" He asks.

I sit back and laugh a little, glad he's alright. I don't know what I would have done if he wasn't.

"_No, you're alive. We are alive. And lost._"

I start to shiver. I complained the water was cold but now it's even worse. I gather my knees in front of me and try to keep my teeth from chattering. But water guy sees it immediately and sits up.

"_Let's find a shelter and then make a plan before you freeze to death._"

"_Aren't you cold too?_"

"_No, I'm used to it, I've been around it my whole life and sometimes without warm clothes."_

He gets up and gives me his hand.

"_I'm Sunai by the way._"

"_Feline._"

I grab his hand and get up. We start walking towards the small mountains that are lining up way ahead of us. It's a long way to go, but at least we keep moving. I rub my arms in a feeble attempt to make them warmer and I can see in the corner of my eye Sunai would give me his jacket if he had one. And since all of my clothes are wet, putting the leopard printed scarf attached to my waist around my shoulders won't work.

"_What's the grim face for? You should be happy we're alive!_" Sunai suddenly says.

"_I am. But this bag I've lost… well, I had important things in it, things that weren't mine and that I promised to give back._"

"_I can't do a thing about your bag, but I can do my best to get us as quickly as possible to Republic City. It's a long way up, but we'll make it. We made it through falling off a moving train crossing a bridge, we'll make it through anything._"

I can't help but smile. I like his positive attitude.

"_I know a little bit this place even if I've never left my hometown. We shouldn't be too far away from Makapu village, it should be on the other side of these mountains ahead. If we reach the sea and follow it, we might be able to avoid the mountains._"

I'm trying to think of something else to say, something to keep the conversation afloat, but suddenly I hear the weird voice again. How many times has it been now? Once in Miss Sheng's teashop, another time aboard the train… It's starting to get annoying. And the more I hear it, the more I get the feeling that I'm going to discover who's it is. I also feel like it wants something and won't stop bothering me until it gets it…

"_Feline…_" Here it is, it says my name again. I turn back but no matter how hard I look around, no one else is there. Sunai looks in the same direction I do and breaks the silence after a few awkward seconds.

"_Hum… you saw something?_"

I look one last time then start walking again.

"_Not exactly… There's this nagging voice that I keep hearing but no one's ever there! Maybe I'm just crazy, hearing voices… Sorry._"

"_No problem, I can deal with crazy._"

I smile at him. I don't know how exactly I'm supposed to get that, but I'm glad he's with me, even if we've only met each other today.

"_So… you mentioned you never left your hometown. Where do you live?_" I'm happy he's the one to bring the conversation back to life. I didn't dare say anything after the whole "crazy hearing voices" topic.

"_In Zoafu. I was supposed to start training my airbending in Republic City but, well you know… things got out of hands with the whole bandit attack. As for you, let me guess, Northern Water Tribe?_"

He seems surprised.

"_It's pretty obvious I'm a water tribe dude, but how did you guess which tribe I'm from?_" I can see he's kind of impressed.

"_My grandma's on the Earth Republic council, representing our city. I went with her to some of the meetings and once or twice people from other nations were involved. I recognized the design on your clothes, the way they're made is different from the southern clothes."_

He stops in his tracks like he can't wrap his mind around something I said. I can't help but ask what's wrong.

"_Your grandma's on the council? Why didn't you tell me you're a Beifong? You're almost like royalty! You guys saved the world! My father told me stories about your family and Avatar Korra's adventures!_" He's totally impressed now. But I don't need a fan boy. And for what?

"_Well I didn't do anything and technically, the Beifong's weren't the only ones, a lot of people were involved. I think they all kind of saved the world together. And I'm begging you, don't treat me like royalty. I'm tired of being treated like someone special._"

He gently smiles and becomes serious again, quickly regaining his composure.

"_I know what you mean; my father's pretty famous in our tribe since he's a doctor who saved a lot of lives. I grew up as the doctor's kind, always being treated differently even if I didn't ask for it. I guess it was the same for you, in a family of heroes._"

I look down and keep rubbing my arms although I'm less and less cold now that the wind as dried my clothes a little bit.

"_Well, my childhood was normal I think, being a Beifong was never a big deal to the other kids in school, but I grew up with my seven cousins, and boy being the only girl in a family is not easy!_"

"_I think you can defend yourself just fine."_

"_Yeah well I only had my first real fight two days ago so this whole bending fighting is kind of new to me."_

"_No way! I would have never guessed! You're a natural!"_

"_Thanks…_"

I start blushing but before I can reply, we see something moving on the horizon.

"_You see that?_" I ask. Sunai squeezes his eyes and puts his hand on his brow to shade the sunbeams.

"_Yeah… I don't know what it is, but it's coming towards us and fast!_"

We both square off and I try to create a fist of air. I happily realize I can do it again and Sunai arms himself with the remaining water of his gourd. I'm glad it was only temporary. We both face the incoming thing that's speeding in our direction, ready to put up a good fight.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks for all your reviews and messages, I really appreciate it. Don't hesitate to contact me, I always reply. And also, thumbs up for the guest who wrote the amazing paragraph on how Feline should tell her family she's the Avatar. I really enjoyed reading it, you made my day, well evening actually but never mind. So some small hints are in order: I'm sorry, that's not the way they'll discover she's the Avatar, actually they'll see it, she won't tell them. And since I'm mean, I won't tell you when it'll happen, not very soon, but in the first book, for sure. So yes, there's going to be four books, I pretty much know what's going to happen in each one of them. Oh and other characters from the show like Asami, Varreck, ZhuLi (I never knew how to write her name...), also Tenzin's family (Jinora and Kai just got a baby yeaaaaaay) and others will be there soon. How some of them have turned out will surprise you...

If you want me to give you some small hints about the story, like who's the creepy voice, what happened to Korra, who's going to be in Team Avatar, bla bla bla, don't hesitate to ask, I'll answer while not giving away too much spoilers, I promise. Hope youl like this one and see you in a few days for chapter 8. Bye guys ^^

Ti


	8. We get ripped off by the junk knight

The thing that's coming at us is speeding up in a cloud of dust. The terrain is going to be great for bending, it's bare and wide. It's just a shame that I'm not able to earthbend, I would have destroyed the danger the second we saw it. I can now hear the sound it's making too. It's like the roar of an engine, but it's too big to be a motor bike, more like a small car. But it's not pretty and elegant enough to be a Sato mobile. Looking closer, I realize it's a quad, but the heavy kind, I mean it has a lot of baggage. Three crates are attached to it, one on each side and one at the back. Someone is riding it and doesn't seem the least concerned by us. Maybe they haven't seen us or they just don't care. I mean, who would expect two people to roam the mountainous plains near the Black Cliffs! I know I wouldn't…

The person in the quad suddenly honks, probably to make us move away. I look at Sunai and he nods; we're not moving a bit. Once the quad is close enough Sunai throws ice shards from the ring of water he bended around himself. They pierce one of the front wheels and I can see the driver lose control of the vehicle. But I can't let this person escape. It's probably one of the bandits that attacked the train and even if the police are going to be on the case when the train reaches Republic City, which it should do in a few hours if it didn't stop, we can still investigate on our own. Maybe we'll discover something. Like for example who the hell they were? Why attack this train? Why at that particular moment? What meant that Black Serpent? What are those dark gloves? So many questions and we may be about to find out the answers.

Once the quad starts to go sideways and really close to our position, I blow a gust of wind underneath it, making it jump in the air and crashing behind us with a loud noise. Someone screams a high pitched scream like a girl's. We slowly creep towards the wreckage, our bending at the ready. But the lady who was driving the quad is no bandit. After a few curses, she gets out and grabs something from her belt that looks like a mechanic engineer's. She waves something that looks like a screwdriver but the pointy part is divided into two, like a serpent's tongue and electricity is coming out of it, frying slightly the air.

"_Don't get closer you rascals or you'll taste the power of my electrizer! You'll never get my Bonny! Johnny, stay hidden!_"

I don't know who she's talking to, but it seems there is someone else. I try to spot the other person but I can see anyone else. Maybe she wants us to think there is someone? I stare at her closely. She has red flaming hair, bright blue eyes just like Sunai and a fair skin, although a little darker than mine. She has feathers of all kind in her hair, some braids and beads like me but hers are irregular. She's got at least three small earrings on each ear, but no rings, probably so they don't get in the way of her work because she looks just like a mechanic. Her clothes are pretty original too. A green scarf is tied around her head, keeping some of her hair back although it's a little messy right now after her fall, she's wearing a purple shirt and a brown jacket that has metal plates on the shoulders and golden buttons like on an army officer's jacket, dark blue cargo pants and some really dusty shoes with a lot of laces. The sleeves of the jacket are pulled up and her forearms and hands have black spots of sludge.

She just looks like a kid who created a knight's armor out of a pile of junk. Sunai makes a step towards her, but she only yells at him.

"_Stay back you public danger!_"

And without warning, she stabs him in the hand with her screwdriver. Water guy yelps and steps back, holding his hand like he just got bit by a snake or burnt by fire.

"_Hey! It hurts! What was that for? We don't want you any harm!_"

She makes a face like she can't believe what she's hearing and only holds the electrizer tighter.

"_Seriously? You brigands want me to believe you won't hurt me? No way even in the spirit world! I'm not buying this bullshit!_"

I place myself in front of Sunai but not close enough to get electrocuted like he did.

"_We're not bandits, we were passengers aboard a train that's going to Republic City but it was attacked by bandits. Actually, we thought you were one of them!_"

She lowers her screwdriver a little bit and laughs.

"_Yeah and I'm the Avatar!_"

I almost say that she can't be since I am, but then she asks me a question.

"_Do I look like a bandit to you?_"

"_No, but do we look like brigands?_" I ask her back.

"_How in the blazes should I know? You might be… And if what you said is true, how come you're not aboard the train anymore? You ran away? Just like you destroy people's stuff for no reason?_"

This time I'm the one who looks like I can't believe what I'm hearing.

"_What? No! We didn't run away, we fought! But we got thrown out and fall off a bridge. The river took us here. And I'm sorry for your quad…_"

This seems to be a good enough reason for her to stop threatening us because she puts the screwdriver back into one of the many pockets of her mechanic's belt. She then starts pacing, gathering her stuff that flew everywhere just ignoring us. It seems we're not interesting anymore.

"_Now tell me your names. And I'm Rei, the Restless Enthusiastic Inventor; try to keep that in mind._"

Sunai rubs his hand at the place where she electrocuted him.

"_I'm Sunai and that's Feline. So you believe us?_"

She grabs a pair of goggles and puts them on her head.

"_At least they're not broken…_" She says to herself. "_Well, whether you're saying the truth or not is not really my business. And your problems are yours only. But I do know one thing…_" She pushes her quad upright, making it stand again on its four wheels. "_That you owe me._"

I stare at her in bewilderment.

"_What?_"

"_You attacked me and did some pretty big damage to my quad!_" She puts her leg on one of the doors that are open. "_You ruined one of my wheels, but I have a spare one. But the battery is completely discharged now because you short-circuited the whole system! I could repair it but only to make a few miles, I'll have to replace it anyway! These things cost a lot and are hard to find nowadays! So yes, you owe me one thousand yuans! You have two weeks to pay me back. I wasn't planning on going to Republic City, but that's the time I may have to stay to do the repairs._"

Sunai steps in and Rei instinctively puts a hand on her belt pocket.

"_One thousand?! How are we supposed to pay you back?_"

She crosses her arms and starts making her way to the back of the quad, only to open the back crate. There are mostly tools in it but also the spare wheel she was talking about and some cleaning products along with some rags. She takes a cloth and washes her hands with what appears to be filthy water. I hope she only uses it to clean things.

"_I don't care how you do it, but you'll do it. If you don't, I'll find you and believe me when I say you'll regret it if it happens._"

She takes out a spanner and opens the hood and some smoke comes from the engine. She doesn't even cough only puts her goggles on and starts tinkering with screws and nuts. After a few seconds, she already strengthens up and wipes away the sweat on her brow. The sun is slowly sinking now.

"_Come on Johnny, you can come out now._" As she finishes her sentence, a white mouse comes out from beneath the quad and climbs on her shoulder.

"_Johnny is your meadow vole?_" Sunai asks. He's clearly as astonished as I am.

"_Yep, and Bonny is this beauty over here!_" She pats the hood of the quad. Sunai pinches the bridge of his nose. He's clearly trying not to say what he's got in mind. I should probably think that she's crazy, but I'm the one hearing voices and having a saber-tooth moose lion as a pet, so I can relate.

"_You have basically one option._" Rei says while stroking Johnny's white fur. The vole then climbs on her head and nestles in her goggles between the lenses. "_You can stay with me tonight and stay warm, I have blankets and I can light a fire, plus I've got some extra food. Then tomorrow morning once I've recharged enough power into the battery, I'll take you to Republic City but you'll have to add the night and travelling with me to your debt, which will be something like a thousand and two hundred yuans and I'm being nice. Or you can stay alone in the cold, starve and face the goat gorillas. Your choice. I just wonder which one will cause your death first._"

She then takes a few cables and a strange device that looks like a miniature mill. "_The airbender chick, c'mere, I need your help. See that propeller? I need you to blow some air in it. I'll recharge tomorrow, but I want to see if it works._"

I sigh and look at Sunai while Rei is busy again, deeply ignoring us. "_Do we have a choice?_"

"_I guess not. But this debt is going to be a problem. I don't have that much money, I couldn't even pay the train ticket. I guess you don't have that sum either?_"

"_No, but I think we'll be able to figure something out. My family can probably help and she said we have two weeks to pay her back. For now, let's try to get to the city first, then we'll worry about the money, alright?_"

He simply nods and I join Rei to help her with the battery.

"_Have you found anything yet?_"

"_No Chief, but we're working on it!_" The solider then salutes and walks out of the Chief of Police's office, passing by Mako who's coming in. He looks Lin directly in the eye.

"_They haven't found her yet, have they?_"

Lin closes her eyes and lowers her head, placing it in her hands for a second as if all the weigh of the world was suddenly on her shoulders and she couldn't take it anymore.

"_No. It's been eight hours since the attack on the train. We haven't found anything about these bandits, we didn't capture any of them, they managed to steal a lot of possessions and on top of that, Feline's missing. Good thing is, no one was seriously hurt and Feline's pet is going to be fine in a few days, the vet said the cut wasn't deep._" She looks at her best detective. "_How is it going with Jairo?_"

"_His still can't forgive himself for letting her go._" Mako says sadly.

"_Guess yelling at him didn't make it any better…_"

"_What was I supposed to do? He disobeyed direct orders, put his cousin in danger and we still don't know what happened to her! As for the badge, it's Sen who took it and lost it during the attack. But that's another story…_"

"_Have you told her parents yet? I know it's still early, but they deserve to know._"

Mako's face darkens. "_Yeah, you're right. I'll call Bolin. Tell me if anything happens._"

Lin just nods and gets back to her notes and the different phone numbers she's been calling during the last couple of hours. Mako gets to his desk in the detective department and grabs the phone.

"_Hi Bro'. Sorry to call you this late, but there's something I you need to know…"_

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I know it's a bit early for this one, but since it's finish, might as well update the story. Thanks for reading and hope you like it. Don't hesitate to write to me and follow and fav. See you guys soon ^^


	9. We discover the Pile of Spares

Rei maybe a real pain, but she's kind of nice. She's only interested in her stuff and money but the good thing is that she's not very curious, for example she didn't ask us a lot of questions. That didn't prevent us from asking her questions and it seemed to me she even enjoyed answering them. She seems really tough and independent, but I just think she misses human company. She just needs a friend but no way in the spirit world will she say so.

Once we were all sitting around a campfire she lit, we started eating. I got to say, can food is not exactly what I used to eat back in Zaofu but right now, I'd give anything for a meal. The sky was dark but the stars were all shining bright and Rei told us about the different constellations. After a while, she took out a bottle of what seemed like alcohol but I didn't taste it. Sunai took a small glass and that was it, but Rei drunk the entire half of the bottle. It wasn't very strong she said.

We've already talked about my family when it was Sunai's turn.

"_Well, as I told Feline…_" He looks at me. "_My father Borock is a doctor in the Northern Water Tribe. He has a brother who married Eska._"

I can't believe it!

"_You mean your uncle is the chief of the North?_"

He nods but doesn't smile like it isn't something he likes talking about. I can't help being a little more curious.

"_How about your mother?_"

"_She… she's never been in the picture, you see?"_

"_Oh… I'm sorry._"

He gently smiles but I can read the sadness in his eyes. "_Don't worry, I'm used to it, I never really met her._"

I'm wondering if she's still alive or not. But whatever the case, I won't talk about it anymore. That's only now that I realize how lucky I am to still have both of my parents, living together and all. Some of us don't have that chance. It's just like with Jay's mom, I don't know either who she is or was.

"_So I pretty much grew up there._"

"_What drove you to the Earth Republic then?_" Rei asks, resting her arms behind her head.

"_I have to take care of some business for my father. He got a problem with his Sato mobile and asked me to go solve it in Republic City and also I have to meet some doctors along the way. Something about a future doctors' meeting or something. And since he's been very busy lately, he doesn't have time to do it himself._"

"_Oh! I know Asami, she's been like an aunt to me since I was born. I could introduce you!"_ I suddenly say.

"_Yeah, sure._"

I wonder if he's telling the truth… Doctors are not the poorest people and Sunai didn't have enough money to pay the train ticket. His father could have paid it I think. I'm not saying Sunai's lying, but I don't think he's being very honest with us. It's definitely fishy.

"_And what about you Rei? What is someone like you doing in the wild all by herself?"_ Water guy asks, changing the subject. She doesn't seem to be the least bothered by his question. Johnny had nestled near her in a corner of her blanket and is peacefully sleeping. I look at this girl who's twenty years now, almost twenty-one, eager to hear her story.

"_Well, I never really had a family. I traveled a lot as a kid and ended up in the Si Wong Desert when I was ten. Since then, the sandbenders took me in and taught me everything they knew, it didn't matter to them I couldn't bend and they always considered me as one of their own. It's been a few years now that I'm roaming the Earth Republic. Usually I got money by helping people with their engines and cars; they don't have the kind of support and technology as in Republic City. But things started to go crazy a few months ago in some counties, especially up north._"

Maybe this has something to do with the problems in Republic City that Lin told us about. And maybe even the train attack! Things could be linked. I need to learn more.

"_What happened? I thought the Earth Republic was working things out after Prince Wu stepped down… When I was in Ba Sing Se with my grandmother at the council meeting with a representative of each county, everything seemed fine! The Earth Republic finally got it together and Koshi had been named President of the Republic by the people!_"

"_When was the last time you were there?_" Rei asks, still as calm and serious as before.

"_Well… a year ago at least._"

"_Things have changed since then, Chiquita. The counties up north, especially those around the Northern Air Temple and Ba Sing Se are not happy with President Koshi and had started doing things on their own. Mostly, they complained about the spirits coming to the temple. Strangely people around the desert are not complaining a lot and boy there's a lot of spirits in there now!_"

She looks at us and sees the anxiousness in my eyes.

"_Don't you worry, missy. Tomorrow I'll take you to the city and this whole nightmare of yours will be over. You'll reach civilization, get your good old comfort back and once you've paid me, you'll never hear from me again._" She rolls to the side, careful not to crush Johnny and adds. "_Simple as that._"

I stare for a few seconds into the fire, wondering about what she said. She certainly had a much rougher life than me. I can't help thinking about the bitterness in her voice when she mentioned the comfort, like she hates rich people or people who can live well and without any trouble. She sure doesn't seem like she had a lot of comfort in her life…

"_Why don't you stay in Republic City Rei?_" I suddenly ask, making Sunai look up even if he started to doze off. "_You could have a really good job there, talented as you are with engines and machines._"

She takes a minute to answer and I almost thought she wouldn't.

"_I don't like the people there. They always screw things up._"

And after that, she didn't say a word. I really wonder what happened to her family to make her be that way. On the outside, she's the cold, independent and tough girl but on the inside, I think she's just caring, sad and lonely. I fell asleep shortly afterwards. This day and everything that happened took a great toll on me and I slept like a log. I dreamed the creepy voice called me again. And strangely in my dream, I could see a silhouette but nothing more. It was so blurry, I couldn't guess who it was but it was definitely a woman. And she said something new "_Feline... be careful... they're coming..._"

But what woke me up was a sudden and loud roar. I look up, an air knife created immediately in my hand, ready to defend myself against whoever or whatever is attacking us. But it's only Rei who started the engine to test it.

I look at her, hating to be woken up of the sort.

"_Good morning Chiquita. Time to put your ass in gear and get up, the sun's been up for at least two hours now._" I really hate her right now. I get up and join her slowly, still yawning.

"_We better hurry up if we want to leave before noon so we can reach Republic City before nightfall."_

I suddenly forget how much I hate her.

"_Really? That's awesome! What do I do?_"

She smiles. Her smile is really beautiful, with her flaming hair framing her face and the sunbeams lighting it up, but it's a greedy smile. I'm sure it's the smile she makes we she gets paid.

"_Since you're the only airbending chick around, you'll do the same as yesterday with the propeller, but this time I need the blow to be stronger. No joking around this time. Johnny, show missy were the device is!_"

The meadow vole suddenly comes from under the hood of the quad and climbs on my arm which makes me laugh a little. There's a pair of small goggles on the mouse's head which is so cute!

"_Where's Sunai?_" I ask while stroking the little rodent. Rei doesn't even look at me; she's busy with the spare wheel. It looks much more complicated to change a wheel than I thought. But I also get the feeling Rei's quad is not exactly a legal vehicle. She probably altered it quite a lot, I'd say.

"_He went to fetch some water, he said. Something about filling up his gourd, or something._" She waves the spanner she's holding in the direction of the south and then keeps on working. There's sludge on her hands and her sleeves are pulled up once again.

I let Johnny guide me to the device and airbend in it, charging up the battery. It took Rei a few other hours to finish with the wheel and take care of the battery. Sunai came back and we ate a bit of yesterday's food as breakfast. Just as Rei had planned, we left before noon. The sun was high and it was pretty hot, even so close to the mountains. Rei got in and put her seat belt on. We sat on the back crate, Johnny was on Rei's shoulder, holding onto her armor plate.

"_Alright, so here's the plan: we're going between the sea and the mountains, it's going to be rocky so hold on but don't you dare do anything stupid. You know what? Just don't do anything at all actually!_"

She puts her goggles on and presses the gas pedal. I never thought a car this size could go so fast. I almost threw up after a few seconds, but once I settled and held on, it was kind of fun actually. Rei was driving really fast, but she knew what she was doing and nothing happened. At some point, Johnny climbed in front of Rei and held onto the handlebar. I think I also heard Rei laugh and scream of joy during a few seconds. She was really enjoying the ride and this time, her smile was fair. I think at some point, she even forgot about us. We almost got thrown overboard three or four times but we held on and helped each other out. But after two hours, I really did enjoy the ride. The wind in my face, the speeding water on our left and the towering mountains on the right, it was just magical. We arrived in Republic City many hours later when the sun was starting to sink in the horizon. Rei hasn't said a single word since she started the engine.

Finally we arrived in Republic City. I've been there so many times I can easily guide Rei to Mako's apartment and then I'm sure he'd agree to let Sunai and Rei stay for a while… But Rei seems to know where she's going because she turns in the opposite direction like there's a place she'd rather go than the city centre. We arrive shortly after at one of the biggest gathering of mechanical junk I've ever seen. A lot of people are there, divided into small groups of two or three, each one of these groups around a car or a bike fixing it, washing it, even painting it. Rei chooses an empty place and stops the quad. She turns to us and takes her goggles off, putting them back in her hair where Johnny immediately climbs up.

"_Welcome to the Pile of Spares! This place is like home, whenever I'm in Republic City, I'm here. So it's here I'm going to be for the next two weeks. Don't forget about my money!_"

Sunai jumps off the quad and helps me down. "_Yeah, we won't."_ Looks like he's grumpy. It only makes the mechanic smile. A man then joins us. He's really tall, has black skin and tattoos all over his arms. I'm not a big fan of people who have tattoos all over their body, but I have to admit his tattoos are all about the four elements and it's pretty cool. He's bald and his clothes are really simple and baggy, but it suits him.

"_Rei! Wasn't hoping to see you back so soon. Already miss me?_" He then puts his arm around her shoulders. "_Hi Johnny._" He then seems to high five the vole.

"_Come on, you know me, I won't come back here unless I've got an engine problem or for a race, which isn't the case right now._" She then gets his hand away and turns to us. "_Feline, Sunai, this jackass here is Chakka. He pretty much owns this place, or at least keeps it safe and protects it since nobody owns it._"

"_That's right babe, nobody owns this place, first rule of the Pile of Spares! So you just pick up tourists in the wild now? For how much are you planning on selling them? Can I place a bet?_"

"_Shut up, darkass! They're just people who happen to owe me money, that's all._"

"_Yeah and we're gonna go, right Feline?_" Sunai suddenly says.

_"I guess…_" I don't know what to say to this sudden question. But it's true that my family is probably worrying sick. "_We better head to the city center._"

"_Then take the street that's in front of the Pile and then turn right. There's a tram stop right there._" Rei says as Chakka starts to look at her quad.

"_Thanks Rei._" I say and shake her hand.

"_Don't worry, we'll see each other very soon."_ And here comes that greedy smile again.

As we're leaving, Chakka asks "_So, what's the problem with Bonny?_"

I turn to see how Rei is going to explain the situation and I see her take off her jacket. The purple shirt she's got is actually a sleeveless top that reveals part of her back and there's a huge tattoo on it. It looks like a red bird but I can't really tell but it seems to cover all her back or most part of it.

"_The battery's dead and I need a spare wheel, I used the one I had. Also, she needs a shower, the plates are pretty rusty too. Do you have the spares?_" Chakka smiles and pats her on the back. "_I think so, I'll check and ask Benny Boy to help us out._" He disappears inside the building in which I guess are all the parts. Other people come to great Rei and it seems she knows them all. There are only a handful of women and all sorts of people seem to be part of this community, benders and none benders, earth, fire, water and even air citizens (I can see an airbender among them), men and women, even some children, tall and small, young and old. Really it's one happy mix.

It doesn't take us much time to find the tram stop and reach the city center. I easily find the building in which Mako lives. But I don't know why, as I'm about to knock on the door of his apartment, I freeze. I'm probably going to see Jay or Sen because Mako's working but I really don't know what to say to them. Sorry doesn't seem to be enough. Sunai doesn't say anything. He told me earlier in the tram that he didn't like Chakka at all but now he's calm again. He only waits for me to knock, like he knows that I just need a few seconds to grasp my courage and do so.

Finally I knock and I hear voices on the other side, then footsteps and the door being unlocked. But the person that opens is not the one I was expecting to see.

"_Dad?_"

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Hey people, here's chapter 9! I hope you like it and don't hesitate to contact me. I'll answer all your questions. There's going to be a real mystery around Sunai's mother, Jay's mother, Rei's parents and Chakka, so stay tuned. The creepy voice will come back soon to haunt Feline again, revealing more things and you'll soon see who's voice it is. So see you soon guys!

Ti


	10. Family, jokes and story telling time

"_Dad?_" I can't hide my surprise.

How come he's here? I don't have time to say anything because he steps ahead and hugs me. "_Oh my gosh! Feline! Where have you been? We've been so worried! I thought I'd never see you again!_" My father spits out. He's the good old Bolin I remember. I'm glad to see he's back to his old self and I couldn't be happier to see him right now. Maybe it's actually better that he's the one who opened the door.

My mother hugs me when my father lets go of me and during this brief reunion water guy keeps standing there the whole time, his jaw open.

"_No way! You're Bolin and Opal! Wow! It's such an honor to meet you!_"

He raises his hand to great my father, his palm open. I can clearly see the excitement in his eyes. Even if his uncle is now Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, he's still a big fan of his childhood living legends.

"_And you are…?_" My father asks while raising an eyebrow as if trying to remember if he met him before.

"_Mom, dad, this is Sunai, we met on the train and he saved my life._"

Bolin stares at the young man for a while, looking him up and down as if trying to decide whether he should trust him or not. But shortly after he smiles and shakes his hand.

"_Thank you for keeping our daughter safe! Looks like you got yourself a trusty young man, sweetie!_"

I blush and my mother laughs a little.

"_Well, thank you Sir, but Feline saved my life too. We saved each other._"

"_This is such a happy reunion! Come on in, you'll tell us everything inside."_

And just like that, I was back at my uncle's place again. It hasn't changed one bit. Mako's always been organized and everything's still in place. But those who live here are not there.

"_Where's Mako? And Jay? Sen also, where are they?_"

Bolin sits on the couch and pats the cushions next to him for me to sit. There's already tea on the small table, jasmine tea, my mom's favorite. I can also smell something baking in the kitchen, probably blueberry muffins. My father sighs.

"_Mako has been working his butt off the last couple of days to find you. He's still out there, looking for you which reminds me…"_ He then grabs the phone and contacts Lin, telling her the good news.

I can easily imagine Lin's relief painted on her face. Bolin then talks with her for a while, getting slowly away from us and even enters the kitchen like he was talking about something secret. I can't help but wonder what it is… Even my mother seems surprised and concerned but she quickly turns to Sunai and offers him some tea while asking us to tell everything that happened since we left the train station in Zoafu. It takes us an entire hour to tell them everything, my father having joined us after a couple of secrecy talking minutes with the Chief. Lin actually wants us to drop by the Police Station the next day to tell her our story and maybe the things we discovered will help the investigation.

Once we finished talking, Sunai asked my parents a lot of questions about their adventures back in the days of Avatar Korra's glory. It's at this time that Mako's family came home. The boys wouldn't let me go until they were sure I had my dose of free hugs and that I wasn't hurt. We told the story again and I know we'll have to do it again in front of Lin. Jay then sits next to me, smiling. He looks better than before the train trip and I have to tell him something.

"_I'm so sorry Jay, but during the attack, one of the bandits took my bag and it fell out of the train just like us. It got lost in the river._"

"_Don't worry, it's no big deal." _Even if he says so, I don't think he's being honest. I can clearly see the sadness in his eyes even if he's doing everything not to show it. "_When dad discovered my badge was missing, Sen told him he borrowed it to show his friends but lost it during the train attack. I can't believe he did something like that! He saved my neck, but I wished he didn't."_

I can't help being surprised and look at Sen who's sitting in a corner at the end of the living room. It's definitely odd; usually he's sitting near Jay, always trying to get his attention or mine.

"_Why? That's pretty nice of him…_"

"_That's the problem! I'm tired of him being always so nice and caring, always doing everything I tell him to do! He's the same with dad! Always acting like a puppy, following us everywhere, doing the same as we do!_"

I sigh and look back at Jay.

"_He's your younger and only brother, it's normal for him to want to be like you, you're his hero!"_

"_Well I don't want to be! He shouldn't take me as an example! I'm not as good as he thinks I am!"_ Jay is screaming now and mom looks in our direction before getting back to her conversation with Mako who seems somewhat less tired now that he knows I'm fine than when he first came in.

"_I'm not perfect and I'm not good enough! I've pretty much screwed up everything I ever did in my life and I don't want to him do the same. I don't want him to make the same mistakes I made…_"

Opal smiles gently and even if Mako doesn't react one bit, I'm sure he heard him. Sen doesn't seem to have been listening though… Once the whole Sen-and-badge topic is closed, Jay gets back his good mood and starts joking around again. I seriously don't know how he can be so hilarious. He definitely didn't get that from Mako… Maybe Bolin inspired him somehow… Or maybe his mother was a jokester. There's no use asking Jay, he doesn't know himself and gave up on trying to discover the truth from his father. Because every time Jay's mom is mentioned, Mako becomes as sad and melancholic as Bolin when we talk about Korra. And his father's sadness is just something my firebending cousin doesn't want to see again.

Maybe I'm the one who should try to ask Mako. After all, it's been a long time ago and nobody asked him in ages. And as I'm his favorite niece, I think I should give it a try once I'm alone with my uncle. Sunai joined the conversation and so do we. He clearly still can't believe he gets to meet three of the heroes he heard so many stories about in his childhood. And who would have thought that this perfectly serious and calm guy can also be a true fan boy?

"_As I started telling you earlier, the first real threat to Republic City, even more dangerous than the Triads, and believe me when I say that these guys are scary, was the Equalists and Amon, their leader._" Says Bolin. Even if I've heard this story a dozen times, I love it when my father tells it. He just got this amazing way of telling stories that he actually could read a cooking recipe and it still would be awesome. And as usual when Jay's around story telling time, he can't help himself but add some comments of his own.

"_Yeah, that dude really was Amon-ster!_"

My father kept telling the story, probably adding some extra details (did Korra really make Amon cry like a baby in front of all the people?) and every time Jay saw an opportunity, he took it.

"_So it was pretty tough back in the days. I didn't know Opal then yet, but Team Avatar really had a lot of fun and we did some amazing things! Asami for example even though she's a nonbender, man she was powerful with that technology of hers!_" Bolin keeps on saying.

"_Yeah, she __used her father's shock glove to help the Avatar fight Equalists… the results were quite shocking…_" Jay says.

My father laughs and I'm glad he's back to his old self again because Bolin who's not laughing is just not Bolin. "_But things were really dark for a while; it was scary when Amon could take your bending away at any second! Even Lin got caught!"_

Jay smiles. "_Uncle, you're making this too easy. Amon took away Lin's bending and told__her not to "metal" with his plans again._"

"_Yes! And then we took them down and saved the world!_"

"_You know Amon's second in command was defeated by Korra's polarbear dog... I heard it was aPAWling…_"

"_After weeks of terror, Korra finally faced Amon and defeated him but unfortunately he escaped. But our trusty detective here…_" Bolin puts his arm around Mako who's sitting next to him. "_Discovered a few weeks later, before another threat had risen, that Amon and his brother went BABOOM and were no longer of this world." _He puts his hand on his chest and lowers his voice, making it sad but funny at the same time.

"_Yeah, Amon took Tarrlock out for a boat ride. They've been dying to spend some time together._"

After the Equalists crisis, my father tells us how Team Avatar prevented ten thousand years of darkness and relates us every single detail about the fight between Giant Korra and Dark Unaloq Vaatu (even though he wasn't there) and how he almost got married to Eska who's now Sunai's aunt and also how he got into the Movers. Today, they are the most popular and amazing thing to do in town, there are dozens of Movers stars and I've watched _"Noatak the hero of the North"_ at least fifteen times, it's always aired on TV (another of Varreck's inventions) during the anniversary of the day Unalaq was defeated.

Jay can't make a lot of jokes about this period of time maybe because it was really darker than the one before or simply because it's not as easy to find a pun with Unalaq as it is with Amon.

After that, the whole Red Lotus story was told and Bolin got really emotional talking about how Zaheer managed to break Korra and almost killed her but Jay lightened the mood by saying how Zaheer took the earth queen's breath away and singing a tune to it. Mako even cracked a smile. The next story wasn't this funny. I know my father doesn't mind talking about Kuvira's reign, but he's always serious and also sad when he tells this part of the story, like he's remembering every single mistake he made at that time. My mother has forgiven him a long time ago and so had the rest of my family, but I guess he's never going to laugh about it as he does about the rest. Not many jokes here either, Jay really has to do better than that.

After that, my father keeps telling us other stories and of course, they're all from his point of view so I wonder if it was the same when Korra, the main protagonist of these stories, was doing all of these things he's telling us about. Probably not.

"_So after Korra was back on track and prince Wu decided to turn the earth kingdom into a republic, heads of States were elected by the people according to the different counties of the kingdom. But it took a long time, ten years actually to put the republic in place and Korra had to stop a lot of rebellions that occurred in the different States. Some people also couldn't accept the presence of the spirits and fought with them, trying to chase them away._" Says my father. He lowers his head and I know what's coming, I've heard this story so many times already but Sunai hasn't and he's hanging onto Bolin's every word.

"_That was one of these fights Korra was trying to stop when she vanished. In a few weeks, it's going to be eighteen years._" Yeah, just like my birthday, I can't help but think. "_She disappeared near Zaofu, in the desert, near Misty Palms Oasis, but no matter how many searching parties we sent, no matter how many times we all searched the desert, we couldn't find her or any sign or trace. Even in the Spirit World. That's why it took the earth republic so long to get stable. She just… vanished._"

That's when I hear the creepy voice again. I turn abruptly, looking out of the window. "_…vanished…_" it says. For a moment, I see a dark blue silhouette outside the window but as I'm about to get up in order to get a closer look, Bolin bursts out laughing at one of Jay's jokes and the silhouette disappears. It's weird. Well, it's been weird since the first time I heard this voice, but the more it happens, the more confused I get but at the same time closer to the truth and I know that someday, I'll discover who's voice it is and especially what does it want.

"_Did you hear this Feline, it's just so funny! You have to listen! Come on Jay, tell your joke again!"_ Says my father, still laughing and clutching his stomach. Jay turns to me.

"_Ever wondered how Toph met her husband? On a blind date!_"

I can't help but laugh. I really don't know where Jay gets his silly jokes. After a while, we eat dinner all together and Mako offers Sunai to stay here for the night. He'll sleep on the couch of the living room when I'm going to sleep in the guest room where I usually slept during the summer; everybody always considered it my room. My parents will be staying in Jay's room and my firebending cousin will sleep on a mattress in Sen's room. And of course, Mako will be in his own room. The apartment is located in the city center, a few streets away from the police station and three tram stops away from the train station. It's not the richest neighborhood in Republic City, but it's a really nice and very safe one.

Once the dinner's over, I offer to wash the dishes. It may be nothing, but it's the least I can do after worrying them all so much. Meanwhile Sunai tells them about the money we owe Rei _"One thousand and two hundred yuans?!"_ my father yells. But my parents are willing to pay our debt, but I'll have to pay them back once I've got this money with my work. Mako then comes to help me and after a few words, a thick silence settles between us.

"_Hum… Mako? Can I ask you something?_" I say with a voice so quiet it's a miracle he hears me. "_Shoot._" I stop washing the plate I'm holding and put it back in the sink while looking at him directly in the eye.

"_What… what happened to Jay and Sen's mom?_"

He doesn't say anything at first and keeps on washing up the dishes and I only half expect him to answer, but he finally does. "_Rayla and I never got married. We were living in this very apartment together for a few years when Jairo unexpectedly arrived and then Sen and our lives were as busy as hell. I was already a detective at the time and she was a nonbender nurse working at the local hospital. Slowly our lives were better and better. We finally could afford a car and other expensive things. But…_" He stops for a few seconds, takes a deep breath then keeps on talking. "_But one day when I got home after work, she wasn't there. I called the hospital but they haven't seen her the whole day since she had the day off after a night shift. The boys were at the daycare and I looked for her everywhere. She just disappeared. Just like Korra. But it was a few years after the Avatar, the boys don't remember her much, they hadn't five years back then."_

I lower my head and keep on washing the dishes. I can clearly see that my uncle's moved but it's not the same kind of sadness as my father. Contrary to Bolin, Mako got over it, even if it still hurts but there are some things my father will never get over. Like Korra's disappearance.

"_Feline… vanished…_" Here comes the creepy voice again. It's never called me twice in the same day before. I walk to the small kitchen window and look through it and I can clearly see a woman's silhouette on the neighbors' roof. But it's too dark to see her face's features. She's standing defiantly, like she's ready for battle, but at the same time, her position is kind of proud and wise. I close my eyes and when I open them again, she's gone.

"_Did you see this?_" I ask out loud. Mako comes and looks through the window. "_See what? I didn't see anything…_"

I look at my uncle and he frowns. "_Nothing. I just thought I saw a pygmy puma on the roof…_"

Mako actually cracks a smile. "_Don't be silly, there are no pygmy pumas in Republic City."_ He then walks away still smiling and I can't help but look back at the roof. As expected, it's still empty. This time, the voice said two words and it called me twice. I just wonder when will I hear it again… but it's time to go to bed because tomorrow, Sunai and I are going to the police station.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Sorry for the delay, guys, the week was just crazy! I don't hink I'll be able to publish a new chapter every three days like I used to, but you can be sure I'll post a chapter during the week. It's probably often going to be a Sunday. So I hope you like this chapter and you can contact me if you like, it's always a pleasure to read you guys. I never actually thought that so many people will like this story and I can't tell you how much it means to me. Thanks to you all!

So about this chapter, Jay's mother is kind of important, but we'll get to her later. Also it could be fun if you tried to guess who Jay gets his sense of humor from, I'm sure you'll guess right. Also, there's a couple that as just been mentioned once or twice in the Legend of Korra books and I was disapointed by that, so I'll mention this couple in my story and their descendants will appear (since they were Aang's friends). Also we'll discover later who Rei's and Sunai's mother are and what happened to Korra. Also, I think it's getting obvious who the creepy voice belongs to but I won't say more.

Small spoiler about the next chapter (I think I'll give you three words every time about the next chapter to get you imagination running while waiting so here they are for chapter 11, I count the place's names as one) : INTERROGATION - JEN - KORRA'S PARC


	11. Bouh! Hey bad guys, surprise!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So hey guys, I'm back again with a brand new chapter!

But before that, I have to thank CreepGirl for her advice and messages, it was awesome, thanks so much again. If you too want to send me messages, don't hesitate, I don't bite. Much.

So here it is, after a pretty rough week.

* * *

><p>When I awoke the next morning, it was hard to believe things had changed so much. My stare wandered on the ceiling. The traffic buzz entered the apartment because Mako opened the kitchen window while making his usual morning cheese buns. I heard the slamming door of Jay's bedroom at 8, sign that my cousin was awake and ready to go to work. Everything just felt normal and right. As if it was summer time again. As if nothing had changed.<p>

As if I was still the nonbender rich and useless girl who never left home or dared stand up for what she wanted. Only a week has passed since I revealed my airbending, but I sometimes feel like it never happened. I could tell by the noise that everyone was already up and full of life – wait, did Jay _AND_ Sunai just break Mako's grandma's precious and priceless vase? My parents were up too, Bolin has always been loud in the morning, making sure everyone was awake by reenacting one of Noatok's scenes. It's such a shame Pabu isn't here anymore to do it with him.

But I didn't join them just yet. I had to think about some of the latest and completely weird things that happened to me. First, I have no idea how to tell my parents I'm the Avatar without wounding their feelings by having hid it from them and without bringing up the whole sadness about Korra's disappearance. But sometimes I really think it's almost like I am betraying them by not telling them something as crucial as the certainty of the former Avatar's death. Then, there was this attack on the train. Who were those bandits? What did they want exactly? Why attack this train in particular? What meant that snake symbol I saw? What were those weird gloves? They weren't like the Sato electric gloves at all but somehow they reminded me of them. Could they be linked somehow? And why the hell can I hear this voice? Who did it belong to? I'm almost sure it's Korra's, but I have no real proof. And that is the problem. I can't just tell everybody I'm hearing voices…

When I finally joined them, Mako was already at work and Sen at school. But what surprised me was that my parents were about to leave.

"We're sorry to leave so soon, but since you're back, sweetie, we can serenely go home." Mom said.

I knew my parents had work to do. Being one of the only lavabenders still alive, my father travelled a lot, going from place to place, either to help people, either to do some mover special effects that almost looked real, either working at a building site. As for my mom, she often helped grandma Sue when she was at Zaofu but most of the time went to the Northern Air Temple were she was one of the Masters even if she only got her tattoos recently. My parents were away a lot during my childhood but one of them was pretty much always at Zaofu but it's true that Sue raised me for the most part. So I said goodbye to my parents and went to the police station with Jay and Sunai.

Once we were in the tram, we grabbed the bars not to fall since there were no places to sit left. I was between the two boys and it was kind of funny because I'm at least a head shorter than them.

"Sooo… Sunai, did you sleep well?" I suddenly asked.

I was stamping the ground out of excitement to see Jen, even if we had to be interrogated by the Chief first. The tram stopped and I was jerked to the side but I held on.

"Yeah, really good. Your family's awesome and nice, Feline. I'm glad I met you."

I couldn't help but blush and Jay shot me an amused look and I just had to look elsewhere to avoid his insinuating stare. The tram moved again and the city kept passing in front of us, so fast I couldn't make out all the buildings. In the distance, near the Spirit Wilds, I spotted Future Industries HQ which is a huge skyscraper. The factories were located farther in the city but the laboratories were within the building that's why it was built near the Spirit Wilds, in case anything went wrong. It occasionally did, but Asami always dealt with it with the greatest seriousness I've ever seen.

I really like her. She's like an aunt. I remember the first time I met her, it was when I was ten. She isolated herself from everybody during the years that followed Korra's disappearance, only focusing on her work. These were Future Industries' most brilliant years and since then, it's been pretty much holding a monopoly over cars and technology in the city. Cabbage Corp, its main competitor, is really close to going bust. It took her a while, but she eventually reached out for her friends and since then, she's been a great aunt. People say she's really weird, having loved a woman and all, but I think it's great she was in love with Korra. I have nothing against homosexual people and I think it's really good that her relationship with Korra was public because this way it'll help homosexual people be accepted by others and especially be accepted by themselves. The fact that it never happened before shouldn't automatically mean it's forbidden. So for me, I think it's great that such important people like Korra or Asami showed the world it's possible and okay.

The tram stopped another time, in front of Central City station and one man came in but pushed an old lady as he did so. Jay's face immediately became red and he let go of the bar and went straight to her, helping her get up. He started yelling at the man but then shut up and froze, his eyes opened wide like he just recognized the man.

"You're… you're Banzo! Viper's son!"

The man smiled. He was probably around twenty five, tall and muscular. His black clothes were perfectly tuned with his evil grin. He stared defiantly at Jay.

"Isn't that baby detective! I heard you've been kicked out of the police… it's probably best… this way we won't have to put you in a hospital next time we meet in the streets!"

Jay squeezed his fists and I knew it was only a matter of seconds before he'd let his anger burst. I had to do something! Jay couldn't just hit this guy without it having consequences on his career in the police. And from the guy's appearance, my cousin would probably get his ass kicked. So I stood in front of him, kind of shielding him while Sunai took hold of his arms, holding him back as he was almost jumping at the guy's throat.

"Careful baby detective" grinned Banzo. "Or you might get arrested!"

He then calmly walked to the side, near the door and almost laughed as he said: "You may not be allowed to let you anger out in public places but be aware of dark corners; the streets won't be safe for long, baby boy. Your father and the old Beifong won't always be here to prevent the Triads from taking their rightful place! You just keep that in mind, baby boy!"

The door suddenly opened and Banzo walked out, his big ham like hands buried in his pockets, his walk slow but over confident and somewhat thuggish. Sunai, who was forced to grip Jay's shirt, let go of him once the door closed again and we regained our original positions.

"What was that all about?" I ask my cousin. He's always been easily irritated and impatient but I never saw him this furious. It was like he knew this guy personally.

"This thug's father is the leader of the Triple Threat Triad! Since Republic City was destroyed during the war against the Earth Empire, they have been quite quiet but lately, things have changed. The three other triads are no more but this one survived during all the years that marked the beginning of the era without the Avatar. And Viper's been getting stronger in the last couple of months."

Jay then looked at us and started whispering, getting closer so no one else was able to hear him. "I overheard Mako and Lin talk about it. Someone has been supporting the Triple Threats, giving them weapons and mecatanks. Even these weird gloves that take away the bending!"

"About these gloves…"

I explained to Jay what I saw on the train during the attack, the snake symbol and the effects of the black gloves.

"I agree, it was weird. My chi has never been blocked for so long! These gloves are much more dangerous than the shocking gloves Hiroshi Sato invented."

"We'll have to talk to Asami." I said while the door opened. We went out of the tram and found ourselves two streets away from the police station. Sunai said nothing and when I turned to him, he didn't seem so happy about what I said. Like he didn't want to meet Asami. He's not forced to, we can always go without him, but I thought he had this problem with his father's Sato mobile…

I didn't have time to think about it because the next second, I was already in an interrogation room. Lin interrogated me personally and I told the story entirely then answered some precise questions about details. Once it was over, she thanked me and started to make her way back to her office after setting me free. But I couldn't just let her go back to work just like that! I needed some answers! So I started walking beside her and asking her questions.

"So do you know who exactly these bandits were?"

She kept on walking straight ahead, not looking at me one single time as if I wasn't there. I had to start running to keep up with her.

"We don't know yet, the investigation is more complex than we thought. It doesn't seem to me though that they attacked this particular train and not another one. I think they chose randomly."

"But surely you're going to do something about these gloves I mentioned, right?"

I almost fell since I wasn't looking where I was going, trying to keep up with Lin.

"Not until we have some real proof that they actually exist. Both Sunai and Jairo mentioned them, but we can't take your words into account unless we have some proof and none of the other passengers mentioned them."

_That's odd…_ We finally reached the corridor where all the officer's desks are aligned and Lin walked straight to her office in the back. Mako was with Jay and Sunai. I knew I had to be quick.

"And what about the triads? Are you going to…"

"Stay out of the police's business Feline!" Lin yelled. Everyone looked around, as silent as graves. "Your parents trusted me and Mako to keep you safe. It's already hard enough now that it seems you have a knack for getting yourself into trouble. Don't even think about meddling with the triads!"

And just like that she walked into her office and slammed the door, blasting wind in my face. I joined Jay and the others.

"Hey Feline! I heard that Lin Beifong has had some 'toph' luck recently. Did she say anything to you?"

I sighed. "Nope, almost nothing. We're back to square one. And here I thought the police would know something."

Mako frowned. "The investigation is not going as planned. But don't worry, we'll figure everything out soon. You three stay out of trouble. And Jairo, don't forget to do the grocery shopping for tonight's dinner."

Jay growled but said nothing. Since he's not a police officer anymore, he's forced to do all the chores at home and he just hates it.

"I assume Sunai, that you'll be staying with us tonight?" Mako said.

He looked at the waterbender. "I'm sorry sir, but no. My father has an apartment in town, I'll be staying there but thanks for the offer."

"So you're going to report your father's Sato mobile problem tomorrow then? Would you like us to come with you?" I asked. I wouldn't mind at all spending some time with water guy but he seemed to have other plans. Mako left us and went back to work.

"No thanks, I have to deal with this on my own. Then I'll find a job to get enough money to pay your parents back half of the debt we owe Rei and go home to the North Pole."

Yeah, I forgot my parents left me the sum of money in my room. I'll have to give it to her soon. I couldn't help showing how disappointed I was but I had to leave the boys. "Jen's waiting for me at the vet's clinic. See you later Jay! And I hope to see you again Sunai before you leave!"

He didn't say a word like he didn't want to see me. Or maybe he was just preoccupied by something. He seemed to have a lot on his mind today. Reaching the vet clinic was pretty easy; I already knew the place for having dropped by on various occasions. One of my summer jobs was to deliver messages and so I've been there a couple times. My parents already took care of all the charges so I just had to pick Jen up.

She was so happy to see me she knocked me over and I almost hit my head against a fountain. Then she just leaked my face for five minutes like it was made of sugar. "Alright girl! I'm fine! And I'm glad to see you too!" She helped me up with her antlers and I checked her wound. It was closed now but a bandage was still covering it, just in case.

"You'll be a good girl and don't do anything stupid until it's completely healed, got it?"

Then we made our way to the closest shop and I bought her a treat. As we were slowly making our way to Air Temple Island – since I was supposed to start my air training and Mako made me promise to go see Tenzin quickly before dinner – I heard the creepy voice again.

_Feline…_ I looked around and Jen raised her head, wondering what I was doing like she wasn't able to hear the voice. Great! Now I'm just crazy! _Feline… be careful…_ That's when the silhouette appeared again. Still defiant and still impressive. It was a woman; she had black hair and a slightly dark skin, just like Sunai. Definitely a waterbender. She disappeared and appeared again a couple of feet further like she wanted me to follow her. I don't know if she's a spirit or just inside my head, but I've got to discover what she wants even if for now, it means following her to wherever she's taking me.

_They're coming… they're coming…_ I'm running in the streets now. Air Temple Island will have to wait. Jen's right behind me and at some point, I climbed on her back and rode after the silhouette. I really think it's Korra. But I've got to make sure! She then stops in a park and I raise my head to look at the statue who's in the middle of the park. The statue of Avatar Korra just after the Equalists conflict. I get down from Jen and slowly approach her.

"Who are you?"

_They're coming… vanished… couldn't…_

"Who's coming? What are you talking about?"

And then she disappeared again before I could make sure it was Korra. That's only then that I realized the park was empty and that the sun had set. How long have I been running after her? It's impossible it was that long… Then I heard voices coming from one of the neighboring streets and some deep laughter, like a thug's laugh. I jumped into a bush and forced Jen to follow. Miraculously, she was hidden.

Then I saw Banzo and three other men appear out of the darkness. They stepped into a pool of light casted by a lamp post and I recognized Shady Shin. The other two were probably his acolytes. Three people came to meet them from another street. Each one seemed to represent an element: a woman in red with long black and perfectly smooth hair, a man dressed in blue who looked like an old man with his grey hair and a woman in green who looked just like the former Earth Queen but less infuriating and much more threatening.

They didn't seem to be here to talk about the weather or the latest probending match. I swallowed hard. What have I put myself into again…

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><p>AUTHOR'S NOTE: So a bit of action today and reunions. Sunai's going to go away for a while but don't worry he won't go far. Also introduced Banzo and the villains. Well, you'll see what happens with them. So for chapter 12 newt week : GHOSTS - ROHAN - ISSUES<p> 


	12. Wanna play tag, triads?

So it's Ti again! And I give to you the 12th chapter! Yeah!

I wasn't planning on doing this chapter mostly about the triads, I also wanted to write a bit about her arrival on Air Temple Island, but this idea of her close call with the Tyrian Blaze actually came to me tonight and I had to put it. For Kyoki, I wanted a character a bit like Azula, but also kind of different. I think it's also a good idea to make Feline face each triad at some point of the story (and therefore its leader). That would be an interesting plot within the main plot I think. What do you think guys?

So here it is. Enjoy and see you at the bottom!

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><p>I looked as closely as I could at each person gathered in the park which wasn't easy with the thick leaves and numerous branches. Why did I choose a bush so thick? Jen's starting to move next me to, making the leaves shiver like by a mysterious wind. But there is no wind tonight.<p>

"Stop it girl!" I urged her, saying it as quietly but as firmly as possible. She hissed slightly like a child throwing a tantrum, but eventually she lied down and stopped moving, her nose buried in her front paws. At that moment, she just looked like a punished kid, sulking.

The thugs exchanged a few words once they were all together but I couldn't hear them because of the distance. Shady Shin seemed to have said something which didn't please the others because green lady stepped back with a scowl on her face – well I assume it was a scowl, I can't see well either – and was just about to go back to where she came from. Shady Shin tried to say something else, but she yelled and this time I heard.

"You're telling me Viper is not coming and he sent you, a mere non-bender second-hand to deal with us? Who the hell he thinks he is? His arrogance will be his doom!"

She turned around and started walking away, in our direction actually but Shady Shin came after her, saying "It's not like that!" He did the mistake of putting his hand on her shoulder to hold her back. The ground underneath him shot towards the sky, making him fly and land hard in a pond even closer to my position. His two thugs came to his rescue and helped him up but he didn't lose his cool. Banzo approached too but didn't help him, like he was afraid to do anything. He made me think of a puppy tied on a leash.

The other two, smooth hair lady and old guy joined the fake Earth Queen, smiling. The old man was grinning and the red lady was applauding, like she just saw the best show ever. Her wicked smile though made me realize that the kind of show she would go to probably wouldn't be very nice… They came even closer and I managed to see their faces. They were all in Mako's wanting book. It's a book he made that gathers all the information about the most dangerous criminals in Republic City and the four triads have special places there. Smooth hair lady is Kyoki, the firebender leader of the Agni Kai Triad. Old guy is Tate, the waterbender leader of the Red Monsoon Triad. And finally, fake Earth Queen is Mea the earthbender leader of the Terra Triad.

I can't believe it! I thought all the three single-element focused gangs were long gone! Looks like I was wrong… Now I have to tell Mako, Jay and Lin, but there's no way I'll be able to just walk out right now. I've got to wait…

Shady Shin may not have his bending anymore – he was too proud to ask Korra to restore it and she probably wouldn't have anyway – but I've got to admit the guy has guts to keep a cool face in front of these three deadly benders. Even if the two thugs next to him are probably his bodyguards. Shady Shin then stepped up "Viper is very sorry but he can't be here tonight. He sent me to offer you a deal. Some sort of… alliance, let's say."

They all suddenly seemed to be interested, but the Tyrian Blaze, as I sometimes heard Mako call Kyoki, crossed her arms on her chest, slightly turning her head to the side as if bored. "And what makes you think _you_ are in a position of negotiating with _us_?! The Triple Threats has been bringing too much attention during the last thirty years at least! Your loud and clumsy actions have made the police much more careful and efficient! Because of you, we were forced into hiding to survive because we don't have as much resources as you do!"

I can guess that's what she wanted to spit out from the very beginning. But she didn't seem angry, just resentful. Like she just can't bare the mere fact of looking at the former waterbender. He didn't pale though and looked her straight in the eye.

"That's why I'm here, to offer you a share of our new resources." He then looked to the side and yelled "Banzo!" Jen stirred at this moment, the yell making her raise her head and her huge antlers brushed the leaves. The Tyrian Blaze turned in our direction but I jumped on Jen's snout and held it down. My black stare forbade her from groaning.

Banzo quickly came and rummaged in the bag he was holding and that I haven't noticed before. He pulled a black glove out of it and I shivered when I realized it's one of these gloves that paralyze your bending for a long time.

"These are the latest equipment our sponsor produced for us. We call them anti-benders gloves. They use the same technique as the Chi blockers except you don't need to touch the entire arm of the person to block the Chi in it. You just need to touch the person and they won't be able to bend for at least ten minutes."

While he was explaining, Tate looked at it, weighed it as if he was looking at a particularly interesting gemsbok bull in a fair. Mea then looked at it but quickly dismissed it, saying that she didn't see the point of a bender using an anti-bender glove. Shady Shin then told her it could take down the most powerful benders in the world. He didn't mention any names but he said a list had been written and would be used if the deal worked out. When Kyoki held it, an evil grin appeared on her face and she put it on, then moved her fingers as if to test it. She then quickly touched one of the thugs as he yelled and stepped back. He tried to punch her with his firebending, but nothing came out of his fist.

"I see it's working" was all Kyoki said. She then tossed the glove back at Banzo who almost dropped it.

"The effectiveness time is longer than using Chi blocking but it can still be improved, our sponsor will see to that." Shady Shin said with a small smile.

"And who is this mysterious sponsor of yours?" Asked Tate while stroking his beard.

Shady Shin's smile widened.

"I can't reveal everything now, but if you agree to meet again in our HQ… then you'll be able to meet this sponsor in person. You can, of course, bring your benders."

"What do you expect from us?" Mea asked, her face completely emotionless but only her left eyebrow raised.

"Viper would like all the triads to cooperate in order to take down the people who prevent us from taking over the city that is rightfully ours such as the police or even other organizations. Since the Avatar is no more, no one can stop us! And of course, we would share the city equally. Viper is ready to consider your conditions."

He then looked at each one of them for a few seconds as if trying to read their minds then stretched his hand. "So, do we have a deal?" The Tyrian Blaze was the first to shake his hand. Once she did so, Tate was quick to follow. As for Mea, she hesitated a long time but finally gave in. She was still not smiling tough as if smiling was foreign to her. Then as they were about to go their own ways, the Tyrian Blaze suddenly turned to us and a bright purple flame appeared in her open palm. I've never seen that kind of flames before! But I didn't have time to admire it because she said "Someone's spying on us!"

She then threw the flame at our bush and I waterbended the water of the nearest pond as a reflex. I wasn't thinking. My body just acted on its own and it actually saved my life. Jen roared and jumped on the firebender who only stepped back and aimed to shoot again, an evil grin on her face. The light of her purple flames that were cast on her hair made them look like liquid ink just floating in the air. I climbed on Jen and threw a wave of cold water at Kyoki then forced Jen to turn around. She started running and we disappeared in a neighboring street.

"Get her!" Shady Shin yelled.

I didn't realize we were in Triple Threats territory until now. At first, I heard people running behind us, like a dozen of them. Shady Shin probably had them waiting nearby just in case, and then nothing. No sound at all. Maybe they dropped the chase? But at approximately the same time the silhouette of the creepy voice appeared again and I followed it into some alleys. I got the feeling it was leading me towards the south, but I had absolutely no idea where.

"Hey wait!"

It didn't listen and I realized it was what led me to Korra's park and got me into trouble with the triads. So I pulled Jen's fur near me and forced her to stop. Unexpectedly, the silhouette stopped too and even came back. It was dark in the street and I couldn't see its face, but it was definitely a woman. I tried something.

"Korra? Is that you?"

The creepy voice said nothing; the silhouette just stared at me with its dark eyes that I couldn't even make out in the shadows. "Great! Now what?! You're the one who got me in trouble!" As I was saying so, some benders arrived and I recognized Shady Shin's goons. Jen started running again as I passed near the silhouette and yelled "Do something!"

I knew I couldn't run for ever. That sooner or later, they would catch up with us since they know these streets better than I do. It's their territory after all. The silhouette then disappeared just like that. Maybe it thought that what was about to happen wasn't going to be pretty and just left. I knew I had a good advantage with Jen and her speed and power, but it didn't seem to be enough to walk out of this mess unharmed. The Triple Threats' benders started to throw pieces of earth, blasts of fire and daggers of ice at us, but we pretty much managed to avoid them. Jen was used to bumpy rides back at home and the numerous streets and crossroads made it easy for us to avoid their attacks.

But as I was starting to see the end of the street and what lay beyond – apparently Air Temple Island – a fireball crashed in the pavement a few feet from us and we were sent flying. Jen rolled on her side and then tried to attack Kyoki who was the one responsible for our fall but other Agni Kai Triad members arrived – she must have done the same as Shady Shin and taken an escort – and dealt with Jen, preventing her from helping me.

I had roughly landed in a wooden crate that I actually destroyed with the impact and was slowly getting to my feet. Kyoki was in front of me and seemed to be waiting for me to stand up and fight, a purple fire knife in each hand. Her smile was more wicked than ever.

"Poor little waterbender ran out of water!" She said.

That's when I realized that she only saw me waterbending and thus, thought of me as a waterbender. I didn't want her to discover I'm the Avatar, but I wasn't going to let her beat me just for that. I was about to use airbending but she threw her blades. They caught me in the wrists and pinned me down to the solid wall behind me. I screamed and tried to get free but the pain was all I could think about as the purple flames slowly burned my flesh like living demons. My body refused to move. Suddenly, she was more frightening than ever. She was a monster that was about to eat me and all I could do was watch her do so. My body was completely paralyzed with fear. The purple fire now surrounding us as she crept closer, her evil grin, everything about her made my stomach churn and my head fill with anguished fear.

_Please somebody… anybody help me!_ This sentence was swirling in my head as my heart was pounding in my chest. My breath was heavier by the second as the heat slowly became unbearable. I was about to die and I didn't tell my parents the biggest secret of my life.

Shit.

But suddenly and completely out of the blue, a gust of wind pushed Kyoki aside and she turned to face her new opponent. I was still suffering a lot, but now that the Tyrian Blaze wasn't focusing on me, I could at least look at the newcomer and easily notice he was an airbender: tattoos and all.

He was probably in his middle twenties, or a little less maybe, black hair, blue arrow tattoos, a small beard but no moustache. He wore the traditional wingsuit that was invented during Korra's lifetime but it was different from my mother's who never altered hers. It seemed to me the wings were only attached to the upper part of the body and that they didn't need to be attached, just elongated when strong wing touched them. He drove Kyoki a little further away from me but I got the feeling – no matter who he was or how strong he could be – that he wouldn't be a match for her. Surprisingly enough, she stepped back and ran away with the rest of her followers after sending me a very threatening "We'll see each other again, when the time is right."

Her purple knives disappeared and I brutally sank to the ground, tears pouring on my face. My arms were trembling and I couldn't stop looking at my burned wrists. I just felt so violated! I had a couple of bruises and burns before, especially when I discovered I was able to do some small firebending and I also when took a beating with my cousins, but nothing like that. And this feeling of fear that completely paralyzed me… It was like nothing I've ever experienced before.

I couldn't stop shaking and crying, my eyes wide open like I couldn't believe what just happened to me. Like my brain couldn't accept it and my body refused it. The airbender knelt next to me after patting Jen on the head. I was too shocked by the latest events that I didn't realize she accepted him. She reached for me with her snout, making my hair fly while she was breathing. I also only felt his presence when he put his hand on my shoulder, probably to reassure me.

At the tugging sensation, I raised my head and tried to step back only to hit the wall. "Who are you?" I asked, rather aggressively. He didn't seem to hold it against me and only said "I'm Rohan. Come on Feline, I'll take you to Air Temple Island. To see my father like you were supposed to."

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><p>So here I am again. I wanted to introduce Rohan's character pretty early, before the rest of his family because he's going to be more important to Feline than the others I think, I'm not sure yet. Also the mysterious sponsor, that person is going to be really important later because they will have to do with a lot of different things. Let's just say, that the sponsor will be involved at some point with Sunai's story, Rei's business, etc...<p>

So, don't hesitate to write to me and ask questions. See you soon guys and hope you liked it.

Here's for next week : FEAR - TRAINING - WARNING

Ti


	13. Always hated morning showers

Hi guys, how you doing? Hope you're doing well 'cause I am!

Finally finished the 13th chapter, this one's a bit short, but it's kind of important. Some big revelation (but you probably already guessed) coming up in this chapter, hope you like it. See you at the bottom.

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><p>Mom always told me to never trust strangers. But in the last couple of days, all the strangers that I trusted, like Sunai and even Rei, have pretty much saved my life. Rohan just did the same and the fact that he's Tenzin's son was all I could ask for. I was shaking so much that he had to help me up on Jen's back. The last thing I remember before fainting was a boat approaching us and about to take us to Air Temple Island.<p>

When I woke up the other day, I didn't recognize the place. I was lying in a bed; orange sheets were reaching my chin. A golden light was pouring in the room through the half opened shutters and I could smell incense nearby. Everything seemed so quiet and it only made me want to go back to sleep. But then the door opened and a woman came in. Her grey hair were tied in a bun and she was wearing the traditional airbender clothes, bright orange and red. Her eyes were smiling.

I straightened up as she sat on the bed, next to me. "How are you feeling?" She gently asked.

"I… I… I'm better. I think."

I noticed I was wearing orange clothes too and that my regular outfit was on a chair nearby, all clean and folded. I looked at my wrists and saw them bandaged. It still hurt a little bit, but I wasn't bleeding anymore.

"I cleaned your wounds. A waterbender doctor tended to them, but he couldn't heal them entirely since they were made by some special and really rare firebending. But you should be fine now."

Her voice had something reassuring and I couldn't help but slightly smile. "I know you." I said. She only smiled more. "Yes, deary. But it's been a while."

Then it occurred to me. "You're Pema!" I remember Tenezin's wife. She lives at Air Temple Island for as long as I can remember and I met her a couple of times during the last summers. She's always been so nice and caring. I couldn't help but ask "What happened after Rohan found me?"

"My son brought you here, unconscious and wounded. We took care of you and you've been sleeping in this room ever since the doctor's visit. Are you hungry? Breakfast is just about to be ready."

And so I followed her out of the room after putting my own clothes on. I met a lot of aibenders along the way, at least twenty of them. I've learned that since the air nation was rebuilt, all temples were restored, even the one that was destroyed during the Red Lotus attack. I've also seen Tenzin a dozen times, since mom always came here on Air Temple Island to visit. There was one time when the remaining members of the Red Lotus attacked the temples but they were defeated and fled. We haven't heard about them since. Some people think they're still out there only waiting in the shadows, others think they're no more because the Avatar circle is broken. Personally, I don't know what to think but I haven't seen any of them with my own eyes.

I also saw some White Lotus guards. I guess they're here because of the latest Triads actions because they don't know anything about the Avatar. Sometimes it's weird to look at these people who dedicate their lives to protect peace in the universe. To think that I could have been protected by them my whole life just like Korra was. I guess each Avatar's life is different… Sometimes I think it's sad to see those guards around Air Temple Island. It's like they're waiting for something, lonely and forgotten ghosts who roam the island. It's like they're waiting for Korra to return so they can protect her again. From all the people who regret her disappearance, they are probably one of the first.

When I entered the room that I called great hall as a kid, I immediately recognized Tenzin and Rohan who were quietly talking around breakfast. Some two or three other airbenders were sitting nearby, also eating and I saw a few kids who weren't more than five years old. They ran everywhere, jumped around and blew air as much as they could before one of the adults started to run after them to stop them. The air nation is finally back on track I see. It's good to see some next generation born airbenders.

Pema and I joined the others for breakfast. "It's so good to see you Tenzin" I said after a sip of milk. I'm so hungry I start eating as if I've been starving for days. Well, technically, I haven't eaten diner last night, so…

"I'm glad to see you too, Feline. And I wish we met in more peaceful circumstances. Rohan told me you ran into trouble last night, what happened exactly? You were supposed to arrive at Air Temple Island yesterday. We were worried!"

I lower my head, the way I used to do when my parents yelled at me for a mistake I made. But Tenzin isn't not angry, just concerned. I told them everything I discovered at the secret Triad meeting and they didn't seem to take the news well. "That's problematic. If the triads are uniting, they could be able overthrow the government! I'm going to see Lin later in the afternoon, I'll tell her what you told me and I'll inform Mako you're safe. You can stay here as long as you want."

He then got up. "I'm really glad that you came here to train with us. Whenever you're ready, join me in the gardens to start your air training, my young apprentice." He bowed and walked out with two White Lotus guards. I took my time to finish eating and thanked the airbenders who cooked today. Then Rohan showed me the back gardens. A group of flying bison babies were playing near the entrance. "You can try to raise one if you want. You're familiar with them I guess, since your mom has one" Rohan said. He was taller than me but somehow sexy the way he was walking next to me on the sidewalk.

"Thanks, but I got my own pet. Speaking of which…"

I saw Jen running to me but still didn't have time to avoid her and she almost flattened me to the ground, widely liking my face. Always hated morning showers. Jen seemed to already know Rohan because she only sniffed him before purring in my shirt when I got up. "Yes girl, I missed you too." I patted her on the head and scratched her behind the ears. We started walking again.

"Now that I think about it, I haven't seen any of your siblings. Aren't they here?"

Rohan put his arms behind his head and closed his eyes for a brief moment as if trying to remember. "No, each one of us has been assigned an Air Temple. We are the bridges between Air Temple Island and the temples. Mine is the Western Air Temple, uncle Bumi is there too and is actually the great master there. From time to time, we come back here when we have to and I'm supposed to stay here for a week or two."

That's why Ikki didn't burst into my room the minute I woke up… Then it's Rohan's turn to ask me a question. "My father told me you only revealed your airbending a week ago but you knew you had it for years. Why hide it?" He looks at me from the corner of his eye.

"It's complicated…" I started. That's not good enough of an answer. "My father always dreamed I'd be a great earth and lavabender, so I hid it. I didn't want to disappoint him because I'm a failure."

"I don't know you well yet, but you're not a failure. You can airbend! Besides, if my father thinks you're worth training, then it means you can amount to something!" That's when we reached Tenzin. He asked me to airbend a little so he can see what I'm capable of and then showed my some exercises. But I did them all perfectly in the blink of an eye.

"You're a natural." He told me. "You have an excellent mastery of the basic movements; let's try some more advanced ones." I had some trouble at first because what Tenzin asked me to do was something I never did before. I never tried to bend this much air at once and it was kind of fun to learn to do that. Then in the afternoon, Tenzin left for the police station to warn Lin about what I discovered and I was left with Rohan to practice. He showed me a couple moves that he used yesterday in fighting and I managed to reproduce easily some of them, adding them to my movement capacity. He then asked me if I wanted a bending duel with him, just to see if I would be able to hold my ground against one of my own. Jen lied down in a corner, some bunny spirits sitting next to her, probably her new friends. I took a fighting position and opened my palms. "Bring it on, air guy!"

Rohan smirked and jumped in the air, then tried to airkick me but I rolled to the side and airpunched him. But he dissolved the air with his fist and so we exchanged a few kicks and punches. We played like that for a few hours and after a couple of litchi juice glasses, I asked something. We were about to start fighting again, he took off his weird jacket.

"Hey, what about these two guys over there?" I told him and showed him the two White Lotus guards who were watching us and looking bored like turtle-ducks in a pond. "They seem bored if you ask me. They could use some action and do this duel with us. What do you think?"

Next thing I knew, they were fighting against us. They really seemed to enjoy it like it was the best thing that happened in the last months and I guess it probably was. I was fighting with the guard who was an earthbender but then Rohan and I switched and I was with the firebender guard. Everything was fine at first, I dodged his ball of fire and started to make my way near him when a bright flame appeared in each of his hands and his grinned, waiting for me to come.

I froze.

And suddenly I saw the Tyrian Blaze again with her purple flames. I looked and held my right wrist while stepping back, fear in my eyes. She approached me, called my name and her evil smile was all I could see. I screamed when she came closer and blew a gust of wind in her face before running away. I heard other voices calling me but I didn't stop. Every inch of my body was telling me to run away from this place, from her. I didn't want to be hurt again. I had to get out. I just had to. So I ran. I heard footsteps and Jen's roar behind me, but I airbended without even looking back, not knowing if I hit somebody. I crossed the gardens, ran in front of other airbenders who probably looked at me as if I was nuts, made my way through the island and finally reached the edge of the cliff that led to the sea.

A silhouette stopped me. It was the creepy voice again and this time, she was standing a few feet in front of me. Just like that. _Stop Feline_.

"How do you know me? And I can't! This maniac is following…"

_Nobody's following you. Calm down. Look around you._

And I did. After a few seconds, I realized I was still on Air Temple Island and not in the streets. That the danger I thought I was in was only in my head. I turned to the silhouette and approached carefully and slowly in order not to spook it.

"Who are you? Why have you been talking and showing yourself only to me?"

I thought she wouldn't respond but finally she did. And I don't know why, but this time, she seemed more… present, more focused like she was entirely here and not about to disappear again because someone might interrupt us.

"You're the only one who can see me. My spirit connection to you is the only one I have in this world. You are me and I once was you."

I tried to understand but it was like hitting my head against the wall: pointless and painful.

"Are you… are you Korra?"

And then she finally appeared clearly to me. The dark hair, tanned skin, blue eyes… she was even wearing the same clothes I saw her wear on the pictures following the end of the Kuvira war. But her hair was somewhat longer, as if a few years had passed.

"So it's true then. You did pass away."

She sighed and I really got the feeling I was talking to the real Korra and not some silhouette I was chasing.

"Alas, I did."

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><p>So here I am again. So we finally know who the creepy voice belongs to. I've got to warn you though, there are a lot of plots that won't be solved in one book only, like the Korra's mystery plot, the Triads union plot, the mastering all the elements plot, etc...<p>

But at least now we know for sure it's Korra. I'd like to know what do you guys think happened to her, how she passed away and all. I promise that people will very soon discover Feline's the Avatar, in two or three chapters, maybe four so stay tuned.

I hope you liked it and don't hesitate to follow, fav or review, it's always a pleasure to read you guys.

For next week, here are the three words: KORRA - ASAMI - REI (the Badass Female Trio)

Ti


	14. I wasn't expecting to meet Korralikethis

Hi guys! Wow, that's actually the biggest chapter I've ever written about Feline. So, some small revelations in here, but stay tuned for the next ones because I promise you they'll be explosive with spoilers. And some plots will start to unfold. See you at the bottom.

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><p>I couldn't believe it. Even though I thought it might be true before, now that I knew it really was true, I couldn't believe it. My mind didn't seem to be able to grasp this idea. The fact that Korra was actually dead, it was so full of consequences, so horrifying and terrible, and sad at the same time. It just felt unreal. Like I was dreaming and would wake up at any moment from this nightmare. I couldn't believe it. Somehow, finally having the proof made it even less possible. I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it.<p>

"Oh my gosh…" My hand automatically reached for my mouth and covered it like you'd cover a child's eyes in front of something traumatizing.

I could see her really clearly now, even if she seemed to float in mid-air like a ghost. She was a spirit that only I could see. I was feeling like the weight of the world just fell on my shoulders.

"How… What happened?" I asked her, not being able to suppress the hint of pity in my voice. She seemed so miserable all of a sudden, her arms crossed on her chest, her hands clutching her elbows like she was trying to keep herself warm. _I wonder if the spirits can feel the cold…_ She seemed lost for a moment, like she was absent, but then her eyes fell on me again and I saw all the distress in her stare. She was scared.

_I… I can't tell you because… I don't remember… I don't remember how I died or when or where. I don't even remember what I was doing just before it happened!_

She looked away, at the sea and it seemed to calm her a little bit. She bit her lower lip as I took a step closer. I seriously didn't know what to do. Since the last Harmonic Convergence and the almost-very-close-we-nearly-died-end-of-the-world – as my father calls it – the Avatar can't ask their past lives for guidance or advice. Korra was left all alone by herself with her spirit side and I was too until today. I was hoping she'd guide me or at least help me along the way but now it seems I'm the one who will have to help her. I took a deep breath.

"Korra, where have you been all this time. Why appear to me now?"

She looked at me again and this time, she seemed more powerful, like she was taking control of her emotions.

_I was in the spirit world, with Iroh. I couldn't leave it, I was too weak. It took me a dozen years to gather enough energy to travel between our worlds. But when I tried to find you, dark spirits prevented me from reaching out for you. They have been getting stronger since my demise and they have to be stopped. They're slowly taking over the light spirits and throwing the spirit world out of balance. There are only a few places safe in the spirit world left, Iroh's house is one of them. These dark spirits have been helped by evil humans or those who are unaware of the consequences of such changes. You have to stop them, Feline. You are the New Avatar._

If a rock just fell on my head, it would have been the same. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I understood every single word she said, all the sentences were perfectly clear and I could see the big picture, but one small thing kept me thinking this whole idea was flawed. And that little thing was me.

"But I can't! You expect me to save the world and become the Avatar but I don't even know how to properly airbend! And I can't even earthbend! I'm a failure and most of the time, people save me, not the other way around! Jen, Jay, Sunai, Rei even Rohan, they're all saviors, not me!"

She kept her calm like she was used to deal with such kind of talk and just watched me as I paced in a line in front of her. At this moment I was more talking to myself than her.

"And my father, my family, what do I tell them! I have to tell them you're dead, they deserve to know! And your own parents too! Oh my gosh! What am I gonna do?"

I kept talking like that, asking myself a million questions without seeing a small hint of answer on the horizon. Actually the more I talked, the more I was frightened and stressed out, but somewhat excited, just like during a fight. I was probably fighting against myself actually.

_All these questions will be answered in time. For now, you need to focus on your training. Mastering all four elements won't be easy, but it's not impossible. And in time of despair, remember that Aang hadn't mastered all the elements when he began his quest to stop the Fire Lord. Also I hadn't been able to airbend at all when I took down Amon._

She then looked at me and I saw myself in her eyes, as clear and calm as two deep lakes. Just looking into her eyes calmed me and when the wind blew in my hair, sending my small beads flying, I knew I had to have hope.

_You're not alone. You have your friends and family and I'm sure that other people will guide you. Maybe you should try to visit some of my own old friends, they'll probably be able to help and I'm sure they'll do anything for the new Avatar._

I saw her starting to fade away as if her very essence was disappearing.

"What's happening to you? Where are you going?"

I didn't want her to leave me just now, I had so many questions and, just like she said, she was my only connection to the spirit world.

_I can't stay too long in the physical world, but the stronger you'll get, the more often you'll see me. Don't come to the spirit world just yet, it's not safe for now and you're too spiritually weak. Try to master the four elements for now. As for telling my demise, wait a little bit, until the time is right._

And just like that, she vanished again.

I seriously didn't know what to do after that. It's actually one of the airbenders who found me because the entire island had been looking for me. Rohan was worried when I left and I agreed to tell him about my fear and the sort of illusion I saw during the fight. It seemed only to happen when I was facing a firebender though. We talked after dinner and Tenzin joined the conversation. He tried to reassure me, telling me that Korra had the same problem after her poisoning, but it didn't cheer me up at all. During the whole talk, I was thinking that it's not a good idea for me to firebend for now and that I really should start some serious airbending, nothing like the small things we did today. And I was also thinking how to tell the world Korra's dead, even though I wasn't planning on doing so in the next few days. But I knew I'd have to do it eventually. I wouldn't be able to hide my other bendings for ever.

I promised Tenzin to work on my airbending the next day and asked him for more difficult stuff but I also asked for my morning off. I wanted to give Rei the money as soon as possible and I also sort of promised Sunai to help him with his father's car problem. Tenzin complained a bit about me being impatient when I asked for more advanced airbending, but he eventually agreed. Rohan was delighted.

The next morning, I took off with Jen and went to Mako's place to pick up the money and some of my clothes, since I'd be pretty much always staying at Air Temple Island for the next week or so. Tenzin already told the detective everything that happened and so he wasn't mad or impatient for me to tell him. Sen was already at school and Jay was about to go to work after Mako who was already gone. Lin gave him another chance and he did some pretty decent working since he came from Zaofu. He actually helped a lot during the investigation on the train attack and got a brand new police officer badge. I still regret I lost his former one.

When I got into my room in Mako's apartment, I took the pouch of money my parents left me to pay Rei and I put some clothes in a big bag that I later swung onto my back. I still haven't found a decent pouch to attach on my belt behind my back. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to find a new one as useful as the one I lost during the train attack. I'm sadder about Jay's badge and my family picture than the actual money that was in it.

After one last glance, I walked out of the room and almost ran into Jay. We both apologized and then laughed. And then, without saying anything, just looking into each other's eyes, we both ran for the door. It's one of these things we still did even when we were grownups. But I wasn't always the one to win. This time, I reached the handle first and was about to run the whole way down the staircase and out of the building, ready to proudly and loudly announce my victory to the world, no matter how silly it seemed, but he pushed the door the moment I was opening it. As a result, we both pathetically fell to the ground, our limbs intertwined, laughing our heads off, just happy to be simply goofing around.

That is, until Sunai came in. We didn't see him at first. But his presence became not possible to ignore when he was towering us with his shadow, a faint smile upon his lips but his eyes not quite understanding what the hell we were doing.

"Am I interrupting something?" Asked Sunai. Is it just me or did I really hear a hint of jealousy in his voice?

"No!" I quickly got up and put my clothes back in order, slightly blushing. "Not at all."

Jay was almost like a brother, but I still couldn't suppress the redness of my cheeks and tried to hide my embarrassment in a quick diversion question.

"I believe you remember Jairo, my cousin?"

Sunai nodded as he watched Jay get up, all cocky and proud as usual. At this moment, I wanted to wipe this ferocious smile off my cousin's face.

"Yes, we met the night your father told us his youth stories and all kinds of legends." He still seemed upset, but at least, his spark of admiration when he talks about my hero of a father was lighten up and shining more brightly than ever.

"Were you going somewhere?" Sunai suddenly asks. It seems he's eager to change the subject too. Jay proudly showed his badge and said "To work, mate!" And then he patted him on the shoulder. Sunai wasn't expecting that and looked at Jay as if he had two heads.

"Before I go, Feline, do you have any plans for Friday's evening?"

"No, why?"

"Then it's decided, we'll go to the restaurant. And you can come too, Sunai if you want."

Sunai was about to reply, probably to give him a negative answer, but Jay was already gone so I closed and locked the door. Mako gave me a double of the keys, just in case and I always carry it in my pocket, not my pouch. Lucky me, I guess.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as we were both getting down the stairs.

"Remember when I told you about my father's car problem? Well, I actually need your help… would you mind helping me talk to Asami?"

I wasn't expecting that and for a moment I said nothing.

"Yeah… sure, no problem! I was actually about to go give Rei the money we owe her and we can go afterwards!"

I think that, because he saw me so enthusiastic, he didn't dare say no and just followed me. We quickly arrived at the Pile of Spares were Rei told us she'd be. It's been a couple of days since the last time we saw her but I was pretty sure I'd recognize her without a problem. You just don't forget a person like her, even if you want to. We entered the place without anyone stopping us, after all, just like Chakka had said, this was a free place and everyone was welcome. But there were dozens of people and so we tried to find Rei but it was almost impossible.

"Let's get to the main hangar and see if we can find somebody to tell us where she is." Sunai nodded and at the same moment, I saw something on a pile of wheels. I got closer and water guy just followed, wondering what I saw. A small white rodent was sitting at the top of the pile of wheels, just at my eye level.

"Hi Johnny!" The meadow vole seemed to recognize me. "Can you show us where Rei is?"

" You don't actually think this mouse is going to…" Sunai started but Johnny leaped off the pile, landed smoothly on the dusty ground and sped towards the throng of cars and different engines that littered the place, with always people bustling around them like a swarm of bees. I realized that, just like last time, two or three, four at most, persons were dealing with each vehicle and most of them were cars of motorbikes. I got the feeling they were preparing the vehicles for something big. A shiver went down my spine but I ran after Johnny.

"Come on!" I yelled at Sunai as I grabbed his hand.

Miraculously, Johnny didn't get stomped or squashed and made it safely to Rei. That day, she just had a wide strip of fabric around her breasts. There was a huge phoenix tattoo all over her back. She was wearing her usual pants and boots but a scarf was covering her head, keeping her red curls from falling in her face. Her goggles were on her eyes and Bonny's hood was wide open. Some sparks flew out of the part of the engine she was working on.

"Hi Rei."

She didn't seem to hear us so I said it again, louder this time. She turned to face us and a wide smile appeared on her lips when she saw the money pouch I was holding. She took off her goggles and black traces were left around her eyes. She probably knew it since it wasn't the first time she was repairing her baby, but she did nothing to wipe them and it was kind of funny to look at her. She closed the hood of the quad and started counting the money on it. After an eternity, she put the money in her pocket and shook both our hands.

"It's a pleasure to make deals with you guys. Come and see me anytime you want! And if some day you have an engine problem, you can count on me, I'll give you a ten percent discount."

She grabbed her tools and was about to go back to work but I asked her a last question.

"Hey Rei, what's happening here? What are all these vehicles for?"

She smiled and patted Bonny on the hood. Some dust flew.

"People are getting ready for the big event. The Great Flash Race will take place here, in Republic City this Saturday, right out in the outskirts of the city. And I'm going to win!"

She then told us that some important fancy business man had thrown thousands of yuans into this race, that he was going to bet all along the race so the winner will get a lot of money. She seemed so excited and ready to face an entire herd of rabid goat gorillas that we decided not to argue. She should have finished the repairs on Bonny by the end of the week now that she had the money and she even invited us to come and see her. She actually gave us tickets and I thanked her, promising to come. Sunai didn't say anything.

We made our way to Asami's skyscraper, one of the highest in the whole city if not the highest. Sunai got more and more nervous as we were getting closer. "You okay?" I asked him as we were sitting in the tramway. He nodded and said nothing.

"You don't have to come to the restaurant with me and Jay if you don't want to… or we can pay for you, it's no big deal."

He looked me in the eye and I almost drowned in the clear and enchanting color and brightness of his eyes. The sunlight of the now upcoming noon shed some rays on his dark face that just made him look so sexy that I couldn't say anything else.

"It is to me. I'll come and I can pay. I haven't got enough to repay your father my half yet, but I've got some decent money. I've been working a bit at a shop in the city center and I made some money, enough to pay for a small room above the shop and to pay for a meal in a restaurant with you guys."

He looked at his feet and his hands gripped the top of his dark blue trousers.

"It's just… I never thought I'd get the chance to meet Asami…"

_So that's why he's being nervous._ "Don't worry. She could probably kick your ass with her fighting skills and all, but she's really nice. Just like the other heroes you've already met."

We didn't say anything else until we arrived. The people working in her office already knew me and they just smiled and politely greeted us. They didn't ask anything about Sunai and just let us enter the lift. After a few minutes, we were at the top of the building and I knocked at Asami's very own office door.

"Come in!" Said a feminine voice from behind it.

I pushed the door open and went inside, Sunai following me. I was secretly hoping he wouldn't faint but since he didn't in front of my parents, I thought it was pretty safe. As always, Asami was wearing a really elegant and very professional outfit, with the logo of Future Industries on the sleeves. She was sitting behind a huge mahogany desk and pictures of her loved ones were littering another piece of furniture just on the left. The room was pretty small actually but since the back wall was entirely made of glass, it made the office seem bigger.

"Feline! It's good to see you! It's been a while! How can I help you today? But first, would you like some tea or coffee?"

I gently smile. She looks beautiful today, well she always does, but I really like how she did her hair today, this red flower just above her ear is really lovely.

"No thanks, it's sweet of you though."

I look at Sunai.

"Aunt Asami, this is Sunai. He's here to ask you something."

At the sound of his name, her smile immediately faded. She slowly rose from her chair and slammed her fists on the table.

"What are _you_ doing here?!"

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><p>So, it's me again. This chapter is sort of longer than what I had in mind at first, but I guess it's a good thing. I seriously have to write down what's going to happen in the next chapters, in order not to forget anything. We won't see the Tyrian Blaze for a little bit (or we will, I don't know yet, MWAHAHAHA I'm so mean... *coughs*). Sunai's going to be in the picture next time and Sen also. He's just such a sweet little guy, I have to write more about him. So this dinner Jay talked about, watch out for this, it's going to be really... how can I say it... wet? And the Great Flash Race, it's going to be important too. The airbender kids as I like to call them, that is Jinora, Ikki, Meelo and Rohan won't come right away (except Rohan who's kind of hitting on Feline if you know what I mean) but they'll come around enventually, just as the other The Legend of Korra characters. I've also got some villains in store for you guys, different from the triads bosses so stay tunned. Feline will soon reveal she's the Avatar and some spoilers will be exposed, be ready to discover some of the deepest and well hidden mysteries of the realm of Avatar and... Ok, I'll stop there.<p>

Anyway, if you have any questions, suggestions, critics or anything (we can just talk and drink tea, jasmine is preferable) don't hesitate to write, or fav or follow, I'm not just trying to sell the story, but I really do enjoy reading you guys and seeing that so many of you are actually interested in this story.

For next week, to keep you hungry my little wolves : MOTHER - ADVANCED AIRBENDING - HARD WORK

See you next week guys, wish you all well and see you soon

Ti


	15. I discover who Sunai's mom is

Hi guys, it's Ti again. Hope you're all going well! Here's chapter 15 and I've got to tell you, this one was pretty hard to write, because I had very little time for writing this week and I pretty much spent all my free time reading Assassin's Creed Unity (which I recomend, truly) while waiting to be able to play the game (since I had some problems with my PC and the game isn't working for now and it makes me even more ship Élise and Arno even if I know how the game ends). But here it is, finally. See you at the bottom.

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><p>I had no idea what was happening. One moment Asami was welcoming us with opened arms, the next she seemed to be about to jump at Sunai's throat or punch the shit out of him. I was lost. Completely.<p>

"What's going on? Do you guys know each other?" I couldn't help but ask. I've never seen Asami so angry before and I had no idea why she was like that. Sunai seemed to be on the verge of fainting but held on, although he stepped back a little bit, as if afraid she might actually harm him. She was the saber-tooth moose lion about to jump at the lonely and naïve foxantelope and I was the tourist stuck in the middle. I didn't know why, but I had the clear impression I was witnessing something I wasn't supposed to see or discover, something that didn't concern me at all, something that would make me see these two people very differently afterwards.

"In a manner of speaking, yes, we do know each other" Replied Asami through greeted teeth. She unclenched her fists and sat back down as if trying to calm herself, as if suddenly remembering they had a witness.

"Feline, would you mind leaving us alone please?" Asked Sunai with an almost high pitched voice, so different from his deep cavernous one. I was about to reply that of course, I didn't mind, despite my curiosity, but Asami talked first.

"No, let her stay. I won't be hiding anything. Just like I didn't hide my romance with Korra, I'm not going to hide this. Some secrets have to be revealed some day, no matter what bad advertising it'll give me."

She took a deep breath and then looked at me. As she did, her features were much kinder than when she looked at water guy.

"Sunai is my son."

"I'm sorry, what?" I couldn't help but ask.

She didn't repeat and I heard her perfectly the first time. My eyes just kept going from her to him. "No way!" I held a hand to my mouth. Since I met Sunai a couple of weeks ago, I always wondered who his mom was and imagined a hundred different possibilities, but I never thought about my aunt. Asami clearly saw my surprise and Sunai lowered his head.

"How come you've never met then?"

Asami signed and all the precedent anger disappeared from her face, replaced by a sudden surge of sadness and melancholy.

"We searched for Korra for months. We did everything we could but sometimes I still got the feeling we could have done more. We all realized that whatever happened to her, she was probably never coming back. So I went on with my life as everybody else had and one day, I met Borock while signing a contract with Ezka and Desna at the North Pole. I really loved your father, Sunai, but not as much as I loved Korra. After a few months, our love story was over but you were on the way anyway. So soon after your birth, your father took you and you've live in the North Pole every since."

Sunai wasn't afraid any more. In fact, he seemed somewhat angry.

"So you abandoned me? Because you loved some dead woman more than him? Than me?"

I could literally feel the anger in his voice. Asami was probably going to reply something about how he just insulted Korra, but decided against it and said nothing, only bit her perfect red lips.

"I'm sorry it turned out like this, but I'm no mother material and I had to go back here. Your father was meant to help people and so he never wished to leave the Northern Water Tribe and I respect him for his commitment to his job and nation. We did what we thought was best for you."

"Parents always say that as an excuse!" He spat. I could relate. But then again, I don't know all the details of the story, so maybe Asami truly was only trying to give his son his best shot.

"Yes, we do. And it might seem an excuse to you now, but you'll see when you'll be in that position yourself some day. You'll realize that we have to adapt to life. But enough of our family business, you had something to ask me?"

Sunai didn't say anything and just turned away, walking quickly to the door and I hesitated to follow him. I met Asami's stare and read in her eyes she wanted me to go with him and so I did. We said nothing until the elevator doors closed on us and I was expecting water guy to start crying or punching the wall but he did nothing of the sort. And of course, I couldn't keep my mouth shut.

"But what about your father's car pro…"

"Don't you get it?!" He slammed, looking me straight in the eye. "My father's car is fine! I said that so I'd have an excuse to meet her, that's all! Can't you see it or are you just so naïve or full of yourself that you can't discern other's problems?!"

"So you lied to me! And I trusted you! How could you do that? You could have told me my aunt is your mother! That would have prevented me from looking like a total idiot."

He sniggered.

"That's true, you looked like an idiot."

I felt the anger burning up my cheeks.

"And who's fault was that?!"

And before he could add anything, the elevator doors opened and I left quickly. I couldn't believe what he said. I couldn't believe also how angry he got, he who was always so calm. I spent the entire afternoon training with Rohan on Air Temple Island, Jen lazily watching us and rolling in the sun just before chasing after her rabbit spirit friends. After I sent a really aggressive gust of wind Rohan barely blocked, he stopped our exercise and looked at me with concern.

"Are you alright?" He asked, stepping closer to me.

I was still furious at Sunai that I had to evacuate my anger somehow.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine!" I rather yelled that said and threw a few air punches in the bushes next to us. The leaves did nothing to me, but I didn't care. I still couldn't believe how he dared use me like that and then yell at me for no real reason.

Rohan smiled gently. "No you're not." He then wiped the sweat on his forehead with a towel and took a sip of water from a glass that waited on a flat stone nearby. "Come on, tell me what happened, you have to let it out."

_No problem_. With every sentence, I air punched the bushes again and again. "Sunai just manipulated me, made me look like a fool and then yelled at me because of that! He's upset because of his mother, I get that, but it's not a reason to let his anger backfire at me!"

A lot of leaves fell from the bush with that last punch and I started to feel sorry for the poor plant. After I finished my furious and uncontrolled attacks, we trained again and hour after hour, I slowly managed to calm myself down. During the next couple of days, I trained as hard and long as I could, both with Rohan and Tenzin. We practiced some more advanced airbending moves and techniques and I understood them all but wasn't entirely able to do them all correctly. Still, Tenzin said I was progressing really fast for such a young airbender. I almost told him once during dinner that I talked to Korra's spirit but I kept my mouth shut at the last minute.

Three or four days past and I hadn't heard from anyone, not Mako, Jay or Sen, not my parents, not Sunai, not Rei, nobody. Just me, the airbenders and training. It felt good to be able to focus only on my airbending skills and I think I improved a lot. I haven't tried a duel with a firebender just yet, but I hope to be able to get rid of my fears soon.

And so the famous Friday night was up. Tenzin allowed me to go home for the weekend, seeing all the progress I made in this short week and I gladly accepted. I wanted to spend some time with my uncle and cousins and so I went back to Mako's apartment. Jen had to stay at Air Temple Island since she couldn't fit in the apartment's doorway and building stairs but I knew she'd be fine.

Once I put on a nice green and orange dress that mom bought for me, I undid all my small braids and let my jet black hair fall on waves on my shoulders. I didn't take off Jen's tooth necklace and put some pretty heels on, even if I knew I wouldn't be able to wear them for long before they turn into an instrument of pure torture. But tonight was the night and I was determined to have fun with my cousins. Jay and Sen both had dates (they told me they invited their friends and wanted me to meet them) and I didn't care that I'd be the one without a date. I assumed that since our fight, Sunai wouldn't show up and I was perfectly fine with that.

When I came out of my room, Jay and Sen's jaws almost dropped. "Well well well, guess who looks like a mover star tonight?" He smiled at me. He was very handsome in his own black suit, I've never seen him in one before and he wore it better than Mako. Sen was also wearing a suit, but his was more brown and red than black and he also looked very nice. Both of their hairs were tidily done and they each had a red scarf around their necks, just like Mako's old scarf. They looked like perfect gentlemen.

"Come on Feline, Helen and Arisu are going to meet us at the restaurant and we better get going."

"They are your friends, right?" I asked as I pulled a light shawl over my shoulders.

" Arisu is Sen's friend but potential love interest…" Said Jay stepping to open the door while Sen slightly and in a very cute way blushed. "And Helen is my girlfriend."

I froze.

"Wait, what?" I looked at him and he only then realized his mistake. "You never told me you had a girlfriend!"

Sweat appeared on his brow as he started to formulate an excuse.

"Never mind, I'll explain everything later. It's time to go or we'll be late!"

Mako wished us to have fun from the kitchen but made us promise to stay out of trouble and not to come home too late, which meant before midnight. Jay opened the door and smiled as if welcoming a diversion so he wouldn't have to answer my burning questions.

"Ah! Sunai, you made it!"

Our eyes met.

"What is _he_ doing here?"

"What is _she_ doing here?" We both said, almost at the same time.

Jay was lost. "Remember, I invited you both?"

I looked at Sunai and spat "I thought you wouldn't come."

"Same here."

He looked upset and started sulking but Jay pushed us all out and so we went to the restaurant.

* * *

><p>It's me again. So, we finally know who Sunai's mom is. Did you expect that or guess that Asami would be the one? And who do you think Rei's parents are (they also are Legend of Korra characters)? Helen is going to be a big deal since next chapter and we're getting really close to the revelation of the identity of the New Avatar to stay tuned.<p>

You know what to do, follow, fav, write, whatever you what (go make some pancakes if you want, I actually would want to taste some since I never did).

So here are the three small spoilers for next week : DINNER - STAR - WET

See you soon guys, I wish you all the best. Goodnight and joy be with you all

Ti


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